THE BOSE FAMILY. 195 



hawthorn, and the members of the genera Prunus and Crat(Bgus 

 generally, as well as in the Ononis, and to spears of such origin the 

 name of " spine " is alone properly applicable. In other plants Leaves 

 have their development arrested, the woody matter that would have 

 composed the skeleton, or a portion of it, contracting into acute 

 needles like those of the berbery. These are examples of " thorns," 

 properly so called ; the thorny stipules of the Robinia, and the thorns 

 of that vegetable hedgehog, the furze-bush, coming under the same 

 general idea and denomination. The thorny edges of fully developed 

 leaves, such as the holly, are very little different, being prolongations 

 of the superabundant woody matter of the skeleton. But in the 

 prickles of roses and brambles, we no longer have organic connection 

 with the subjacent woody tissues of the plant. The weapons of these 

 shrubs are simply hairs, grown immensely thick and strong, attached 

 no deeper than the surface of the skin or bark, and separable from it 

 by mere pressure on one side, when they come away, and leave only 

 a little scar. (Fig. 129.) In other words, prickles are superficial, while 

 spines and thorns are seated in the very substance of the plant. 



Five hundred Rosaceae have been discriminated, belonging almost 

 entirely to the temperate and cold countries of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and remarkable alike for the delicious quality of their fruits 

 when succulent; — for the fragrance of their leaves when smell is 

 present, and for the very general presence of an astringent principle. 

 A few are emetic and anthelmintic, but not a single discovered species 

 is deleterious. 



In England there grow wild of this family twenty-four universally 

 admitted species, and a considerable number of roses and brambles, 

 concerning which opinions are divided. The members of these two 

 thorny genera are exceedingly prone to sport into varieties, and pro- 

 bably to produce hybrids. At all events, there are numerous forms 

 which some botanists deem original species, and others only deriva- 

 tions, scarcely two observers being agreed upon either point, or how 

 many there are of each. For my own part I regard the genuine 

 indigenous species of Rulus as not exceeding seven, but certainly 

 amounting to that number, and those of the genus Rosa as about the 

 same. Assuming this view to be correct, it will make thirty-eight 

 Rosacea? in all, natives of our country, and give to the Manchester 

 Flora twenty-one. I insert the characters only of such forms as I 

 believe to be genuine and originating species, but the names and loca- 

 lities of all that are asserted, and which grow in our neighbourhood. 



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