FLOWEKIXG SHRUBS. 1 33 



very prickly. The leaves have from three to five leaflets, greyish or dull 

 green, wrinkled and veiny, whitish underneath ; leaflets serrate, unequally 

 lobed, pointed ; the fruit is juicy and acid, not as sweet as that of the 



Black Raspberry — Rubus occidetitalis, (L.) 



This species is distinguished from the above by its long arching 

 flexile branches covered with purplish red bark, strongly hooked prickles 

 and blackish fruit, very rich, firm and sweet. It loves to grow on hilly 

 banks and upturned roots in the shade of the forest where it can send 

 down its long flexible branches, which bear an abundance of berries long 

 after the Red Raspberry has failed to yield a supply. Gray calls this 

 Black Raspberry by the familiar name of Thimble-berry ; but it is the 

 fruit of the Blackberry — Rubus villosus, (Ait.) that is commonly known 

 by this name. The berries of the Blackberry are not hollow, nor do 

 they, like the last, separate from the receptacle ; they are conical, sweet 

 and luscious to the taste, in quality astringent, but not unpleasantly 

 flavoured. The berries ripen in August ; the foliage is veiny, coarse, 

 with strong red prickles, the stems strongly armed and covered with a 

 dark-red bark, which with the root is highly astringent and used both in. 

 the form of a tea and syrup in cases of Dysentery and Summer- 

 complaint. The fruit in syrup is also considered medicinal and useful 

 in similar complaints. Avery pretty, ornamental, low, creeping, shrubby 

 plant is the 



Swamp Blackberry — Rubus /lispidus, (L.) 



The branches, very strongly armed with hooked prickles, are long 

 and slender, extending two or three feet over the ground, leaves of 

 three leaflets, bright varnished green, rounded at the ends, more in form 

 like those of the Strawberry ; flowers rather large, very delicately tinted 

 with pinkish or else white, like a small, single. Briar Rose. This low 

 Blackberry seems to love rocky ground, creeping among stones and 

 rooting in the black mould in the crevices ; the fruit is blackish-purple 

 and pleasant to the taste. 



The Swamp-berry — Rubus triflorus, (Richardson.) 



Is a pretty low trailing plant bearing somewhat insignificant white 

 flowers, and ruby-coloured juicy acid fruit ; it ripens about the same 

 time as the wild Strawberry, and the plants are seen running among the 

 wild grasses and Strawberry vines, conspicuous by the lighter green 

 leaves, which grow in compounds from three to five, coarsely, doubly 

 serrate, and sharply pointed ; the flowers in small bunches of three. Like 

 that of all the Genus, the fruit is perfectly wholesome. 



