ICOSANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Rosa. 387 



! cannot but prefer the name ruhiginosa for this species, because 

 it is certainly what Linneeus 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. PL and 

 FL Suec. 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. Vind. ^ I. is a very transient variety. Linnaeus was first 

 made aware of his error by his correspondent Mygind, who 

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

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

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



Whether R. suaveolens of Pursh be our ruhiginosa, does not con- 

 cern the British botanist. Mr. Linclley 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 Cyclopedia, and alluded to by Mr. Lindley, 

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

 petals, to prove them distinct from ruhiginosa, the leajieis being 

 quite smooth in every part, and ratl^er glaucous beneath. 



12. Vk,. micrantha. Small-flowered Sweet Briar. 



Fruit elliptical, somewhat bristly, contracted at the summit. 

 Calyx pinnate, deciduous. Prickles hooked, scattertxl, 

 nearly uniform. Stem straggling. Leaflets ovate, doubly 

 serrated, hairy ; glandular beneath. 



R. micrantha. Engl. Rot. r. 3r>. t. 2490. Comp. 1^. Rees's Ojcl. 

 V. 30. n. 3.j. IFoods Tr. of L. Soc. v. 1 2. 209. 



R. ruhiginosa /3. LindL Ros.SJ. Hook. Lond. t. 110./. 10, icith 

 erroneous synonyms. Purt. v. 3. 40. 



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



Shrub. June, July. 



RrancJiL's much more weak and slender than in the last. Prickles 

 fewer, either solitary or in |)uirs under the leaves and xoung 

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

 and straighter ones interspersed. Leaflets broadly ovate, acute, 

 of a rather dee])er green than in R. ruhiginosa, and less rusty, 

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

 the cultivators of Sweet Briar well know ; but Mr. \^'oo(ls says 

 this circumstance is variable. Indeed nothing is more so tlian 

 the scent of aromatic plants, according to the difterent states of 

 the atmosphere. Floncrs light red, usually small, l)ut this 

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

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

 e.speciallv at the base, tiiough. as Mr. Woods remarks, thi* 



