ROSE TRIBE 237 



or prostrate, rooting, hairy ; prickles confined to the angles of the stem, 

 uniform, without glandular bristles ; leaflets quinate or ternate, without close 

 white down underneath." This plant grows in woods and thickets, flower- 

 ing in July and August. The authors of the " British Flora " remark, " This 

 and the last appear to be merely the two extremes of the same form, l)etween 

 which there are, it is to be feared, many intermediate states." 



2. (5) Hard-leaved Bramble (li. corylif alius). — "Stem arched, root- 

 ing, nearly smooth ; prickles scattered, nearly equal, without glandular hairs 

 or bristles ; leaves quinate or ternate, without close down underneath." 

 This plant, which grows in hedges and thickets, flowering in July and 

 August, is scarcely distinct from the two preceding. 



2. (6) Glandular Bramble (B. glancMosiis). — "Stem arched, or de- 

 cumbent, rooting, hairy, not glaucous; prickles scattered, unequal, with 

 numerous glandular hairs and slender prickles ; leaflets quinate or ternate, 

 without close white down underneath ; calyx erect, spreading, or turned 

 backwards in fruit." This species, which is found in woods, thickets, and 

 hedges, is in flower during July and August. 



2. (7) Dewberry (B. ccesiiLs). — "Stem prostrate or arched, rooting, 

 more or less glaucous ; prickles scattered, unequal, with (sometimes very 

 few) glandular hairs ; leaflets ternate or quinate, without close white down 

 underneath; calyx closely clasping the fruit." This low-growing Bramble 

 is not uncommon, trailing over our field borders or heaths, in thickets, or on 

 hedge-banks. The fruits are few and large, less compact but more juicy 

 than the Blackberry, and half inclosed in the calyx. When quite ripe they 

 are black, but are often so thickly covered with a pale blue powdery bloom 

 as to have a grayish tint. They grow either singly or two or three together, 

 and not in dense clusters like the blackberry. Clare, a poet, whose descrip- 

 tions of nature are unsurpassed for truthfulness, describes the " sun-burnt 

 cow-boys " as searching for them where they are often to be found — beside 

 the brook : — 



" The pithy bunch of unripe nuts to seek, 

 And crabs sun-redden'd with a tempting cheek, 

 From pasture hedges, daily puts to rack 

 His tatter'd clothes, that scarcely screen the back, — 

 Daub'd all about as if besmear'd with blood, 

 Staiu'd with the berries of the brambly wood, 

 That stud the straggling briars as black as jet, 

 Which when his cattle lair he runs to get ; 

 Or smaller kinds, as if begloss'd with dew, 

 Shining, dim powder'd, with a downy blue. 

 That on weak tendrils lowly creeping gi'ow. 

 Where, choked in flags and sedges, wandering slow 

 The brook purls simmering its declining tide, 

 Down the crook'd boundings of the pasture side ; 

 There they to hunt the luscious fruits delight. 

 And dabbling keep within their charge's sight, 

 Oft catching prickly struttles on their rout. 

 And miller -thumbs, and gudgeons, driving out. 

 Hid near the arched brig, under many a stone 

 That from its wall rude passing clowns have thrown." 



Even in Australia, where fruits are so few and so tasteless, the bramble 

 fruit has a somewhat pleasant flavour, though rather acid, and more 



