RUBUS. 61 



of the "Wliiteadder near the Retreat. — D. In copses on Kyloe crags. 

 — N. In the upper part of Twizell-house dean, P. J. Selby. 



The barren stems are as erect as those of the Rasp, 3 or 4 feet in 

 height, slender, green, pentangular, naked, striate, armed on the 

 angles with rather small yellowish prickles dilated at the base ; the 

 prickles are not usually numerous, and they are either straight or a 

 little curved : the leaves are thin, flexible and green, quinate ; the 

 stalk armed with a few small curved and retroflected prickles, which 

 run half-way up the midribs : leaflets stalked, the lower and interme- 

 diate pairs from a common pedicle, the terminal leaflet cordato- ovate, 

 acuminate, unequally serrate, often lobed on one side, the upper sur- 

 face even and naked, the inferior paler and glossier and covered with 

 a very short inconspicuous hairiness. — The flowering stems are often 

 laid ; they have fewer and smaller prickles, and the surface is more 

 or less blistered : the leaves are ternate on a hairy stalk, and the ter- 

 minal leaflet is ovate-acute. They bear racemes of comparatively few 

 flowers, which are small and white ; and the fruit is rarely matured. 

 It consists of a few black drupes. The peduncles are more or less 

 hairy ; the sepals snow-white on the margin, often with two or three 

 yellowish prickles at the base, and pointed but not leafy at the point. 

 — There are never either glands or setse on the stem, but I have seen 

 it clothed with silky hairs. The leaves are frequently lobed, and 

 sometimes incised ; and on some barren stems leaves with 3, 4, and 

 5 leaflets are found. The young leaves on both barren and fertile 

 shoots are pubescent. The foliage is often eaten and made ragged by 

 a caterpillar. 



The figure of Weihe and Nees von Esenbeck is an excellent repre- 

 sentation of our species ; but, in the description, it is said that the in- 

 ferior leaflets are sessile, — "fohclis lateralibus inferioribus maxime 

 sessilibus," — which is not the case in our specimens. Koehlerus 

 says : — " Erectus crescit, uti Rubo idaeo mos est, nutatque demum 

 apice ; distinguitur situ verticali, brevitate trunci, rectis aculeis, 

 maxime vero foliolo termiuali cordato in omnibus ; " — whic^ is all 

 correct, provided we restrict the description of the leaflet to the barren 

 shoot. — I have a specimen of what is identical with our species 

 labelled " R. suberectus" by a contributor to the Botanical Society 

 of London ; but the true R. suberectus is different. 



168. R. NiTiDUS. W. and E. tab. iv. — B. Banks of the Eye 

 between Reston and Covey-heugh mill abundantly. 



"Weihe and Nees von Esenbeck' s figure represents our plant very 

 well, and removes some doubts that a close collation of the descrip- 

 tion with the specimens might raise. It is a fine bramble with glossy 

 foliage ; and its barren shoots, which, when even unsupported, are 

 occasionally suberect, curve themselves as they elongate to form an 

 arching branch that ultimately may touch the ground ; but some 

 shoots from the base trail along the surface. Barren stem angular, 

 glabrous and even, glossy, of a reddish colour, with straight prickles 

 on the angles, — the prickles sufiiciently dilated at the base, which is 

 purplish-red, while the point is yellowish : leaves quinate, the stalk 

 glabrous or only slightly hairy, armed with numerous curved prickles ; 



