CO 





ftOTAMCAU 



THE 



JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 



BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



Anginal g^rfkles. 



SUGGESTIONS ON THE " SPECIES " QUESTION AS 

 REGARDS RUBUS. 



By the Hon. J. B. Leicester Warren, M.A., F.L.S. 



Botanists are not held in over-reverence by the outer world, and 

 collectors of Brambles are often rated very low even by botanists. 

 The puzzle of getting Riibus fruticosns into order, even as regards its 

 forms occunnng in this island, is neither a pleasant nor a remunerative 

 task. Yet R. fndicosus may have its side-light or two to throw on 

 the vexed question of species. It is a creature requiring a study to 

 itself, and one that even great authorities have dismissed in a somewhat 

 perfunctory manner. One school says, " R. ccesius, L., is a good species, 

 R. discolor, W. and N., is a better ; but when it comes to naming every 



CD other bush like certain French friends of ours, the matter grows serious, 

 and we ought to intervene." By no means, it is the better excess of the 

 two, as long as you bear in mind that you are cataloguing merely forms 

 or varieties. R. discolor is no better a species than R. Sjjrei/ffelii, Weihe 

 (excluding^. Borreri, Bell-Salt.), than R. Jissus, Lind. (excluding R. 

 suberectus, Anders.); that is to say, if, by conceding the name of species 



•^ to R. discolor, we deny the possibility of its having ever had a com- 

 mon ancestor with any o\\\qv Rubus. " No," will be the reply, " when 

 VOL. VIII. [mahch 1, 1870.] B 



