388 ICOSANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Rosa. 



I cannot but prefer the name rubiginosa for this species, because 

 it is certainly what Linnseus so denominated, though he origi- 

 nally confounded the synonyms of this plant with the Yellow 

 Briar, his R. Eglanteria. But in the 2d editions of Sp. PI. and 

 FL Stiec. his Eglanteria is determined by its yellow flowers, and 

 all the specimens in his herbarium marked Eglanteria are the 

 Yellow Briar, of which the Austrian Rose, R. bicolor, Jacq. 

 Hort. Vinci. ^. 1, is a very transient variety. Linnaeus was first 

 made aware of his error by his correspondent Mygind, who 

 sent him the rubiginosa ; and this Retzius asserts to be the 

 Swedish plant, Prodr. Fl. Scandinav. 120, 121, the Neglantyr 

 of the Swedes. Linnseus could surely never have seen it wild. 



Whether jR. suaveolens of Pursh be our rubiginosa, does not con- 

 cern the British botanist. Mr. Lindley is decidedly of this opi- 

 nion, but what Dr. Bigelow has sent me from Boston, North 

 America, appears distinct. A careful comparison of living spe- 

 cimens may hereafter decide the question. 



The specimens of Schleicher, described by me as R. montana of 

 Villars, in Rees's Cyclopcedia, and alluded to by Mr. Lindley, 

 Ros. 115, are sufficiently ample and perfect, wanting only the 

 petals, to prove them distinct from rubiginosa, the leaflets being 

 quite smooth in every part, and rather glaucous beneath. 



12. R. micrantha. Small-flowered Sweet Briar. 



Fruit elliptical, somewhat bristly, contracted at the summit. 

 Calyx pinnate, deciduous. Prickles hooked, scattered, 

 nearly uniform. Stem straggling. Leaflets ovate, doubly 

 serrated, hairy ; glandular beneath. 



R, micrantha. Engl. Bot. v.Z?>. t. 2490. Comp. 78. Rees's CycL 

 V. 30. n. 35. IVoods Tr. of L. Soc. v. 12. 209. 



R. rubiginosa (5. Lindl. Ros. 87. Hook. Lond. <. 116. /. 10, ivith 

 erroneous synonyms. Purt. v. 3. 40. 



In hedges and thickets, chiefly in the south of England. 



Shrub. June, July. 



Branches much more weak and slender than in the last. Prickles 

 fewer, either solitary or in pairs under the leaves and young 

 branches, rarely in any other part ; nor are there any smaller 

 and straighter ones interspersed. Leajlets broadly ovate, acute, 

 of a rather deeper green than in R. rubiginosa, and less rusty, 

 though glandular, beneath. They are also far less fragrant, as 

 the cultivators of Sweet Briar well know ; but Mr. Woods says 

 this circumstance is variable. Indeed nothing is more so than 

 the scent of aromatic plants, according to the dift'erent states of 

 the atmosphere. Flowers light red, usually small, but this 

 mark also is said to be variable. Tube of the calyx ovate, with 

 a contracted cylindrical neck, its surface in some degree bristly, 

 especially at the base, though, as Mr. Woods remarks, the 



