160 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 
and sloes are recommended for fences. Blackthorn distinguishes it 
from Whitethorn or May. 
Blackthorn Chats are the young shoots when they have been cut 
down. 
The ‘*‘ Lay of Runzifal” makes a Blackthorn shoot out of the bodies 
of slain heathens, a white flower by the heads of fallen Christians. It 
was held antagonistic to witchcraft. In Surrey it is always cold when 
the Blackthorn comes in flower. 
“When the Sloe tree is as white as a sheet, 
Grow your barley whether it be dry or not.” 
It is the origin of the Bullace and the Plum. In a wild state it has 
spines. The fruit is very astringent. A conserve is made from it, and 
port wine has been made from it as well as sloe gin. It has been used 
for marking ink. Lye or tea used to be made from the leaves. It has 
been substituted for cinchona bark for ague and fever. As a wood it 
is used for the teeth of rakes. 
EssENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
gt. Prunus spinosa, L.—Shrubby, stems woody, branched, twigs 
zigzag, spinose, black, leaves elliptical, narrow, downy below, after the 
flowers; flowers white, 1-2, peduncle glabrous, fruit globose. 
Bramble (Rubus fruticosus (= rusticanus, Merc.)) 
This plant is known in Preglacial, Interglacial, Neolithic, and 
Roman beds (at Silchester, for instance). It is a member of the 
North Temperate Zone, found in Central and South Europe. Out of 
I12 vice-counties it is found in 74 in Great Britain, but it is not so 
common in Scotland. 
The Common Bramble is not only a prevalent hedgerow plant, but 
it is often one of the chief mainstays of common undergrowth, and 
forms wide patches on heaths and moors, being indiscriminately 
common to both highland and lowland districts. It forms some part 
also of the undergrowth in woods and plantations, but is not a shade- 
lover like certain other brambles, of which altogether some hundred 
species are now known, ranking as sub-species. 
Brambles are plants which have a peculiar habit like Roses in 
general, unlike any other plants in this respect. The stems are 
numerous, ascending at first, or erect, growing out from a single root, 
and rooting again when they have arched over and commenced to 
descend afresh. They thus present a regular entanglement, which it is 
