RUBUS SILVATICUS W. & N. 275 



a bramble he supposed to be R. silvaticus W. & N., and I think it 

 agrees very well with that species." 



As this Rubus is very well marked, and one which I have good 

 reason to think will be found to have a wide distribution in 

 England, I consider it well to call the attention of English botanists 

 to it by a special notice and description, the latter drawn up from 

 fresh specimens : — 



R. silvaticus W. & N. — Stem arcuate-prostrate, strong, often 

 branched, angular, with polished flat surface or shallow furrows, 

 green or purplish green, glabrous, or occasionally with some hairs. 

 Prickles fairly numerous, short, very strong, mostly uniform in 

 size, from a long, greatly-compressed base, declining, confined to 

 the angles. Leaves all 5-nate, stalked. Leaflets dentate-serrate 

 towards their tip, coarsely and simply serrate below, green on both 

 sides, with scattered hairs above, thickly pilose beneath, equi- 

 distant, remarkably waved at and towards the edges ; basal nar- 

 rowly obovate or oblong, acute, with sides more or less unequal and 

 narrowed at the base ; intermediate obovate, abruptly acuminate, 

 narrowed or wedge-shaped towards the base ; terminal long- 

 stalked, obovate- or oval-acuminate, sometimes subcordate at the 

 base ; petioles with many short, strong, uncinate or declining 

 prickles ; stipules linear-lanceolate. 



Flowering shoot rather long, with short hairs. Prickles few, or 

 fairly numerous, short, declining, from very long, compressed 

 bases. Leaves 5-nate, much resembling those of the stem. Panicle 

 often compound, narrow from beyond its lowest portion, somewhat 

 flexuose, thickly clothed with short, uniform, woolly hairs, espe- 

 cially towards the top ; prickles very few, short, declining, lower 

 branches axillary, sub-patent, from at least 3-nate leaves, racemose- 

 corymbose ; branches short, patent or sub-patent, from 3-nate, 

 lobed or simple leaves, which are remarkably acuminate and 

 coarsely cut, gradually degenerating into long trifid or simple 

 bracts that are present to the top of the panicle ; smaller branches 

 often three-flowered, with each peduncle at nearly a right angle to 

 the branch from which it springs ; peduncles sometimes with a 

 number of slender aciculi. Sepals thickly clothed with short woolly 

 hairs and felted, ovate, with short point, reflexed from the fruit. 



Petals ovate, large, uniform, concave, emarginate, suddenly 

 narrowed into a short claw, pure white ; stamens long, exceeding 

 the styles ; filaments white. Styles yellowish green. Fruit 

 uniform. 



The marked features of this bramble place it among our most 

 distinct and easily recognised ones, and, as a Plymouth plant, 

 I have known and observed it for more than twenty years past. It 

 occurs very generally in open bushy spots and hedges, not 

 attaining full development in shade or thickly wooded places. 



I possess a specimen collected so long ago as 1843, by the Rev. 

 W. H. Coleman, whose name appears on the label, together with 

 the particulars, " Rubus, Thieves Lane, Hertford, 1843-7-14. — No. 

 1012." To this some one has added in pencil-markings, " nitidus ," 

 by this name having doubtless meant the nitidus of Bell-Salter, our 



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