44 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



Geans, Hearts, and Bigaroon cherries of our gardens, 

 and is not uncommon in woods and copses in the 

 south of England, where it may be considered indi- 

 genous. A dwarf variety of the " Gean," but thought 

 by some botanists to be a distinct species, is Prunus 

 cerasus, a bush with copious suckers, first discovered 

 to be a British plant by Dr. Bromfield in 1839, when 

 he found it in ** a wood between Whippingham Street 

 and Wootton Church, but nearer to the former, and 

 close to a place called Blankets, growing plentifully 

 and apparently indigenous." This shrub is the parent 

 stock of such well-known varieties as the Morello, 

 Duke, and Kentish cherries. 



Of all the genera in the British flora there is none 

 so puzzling to the botanist, because of the vast number 

 and uncertain character of its varieties, as the rubus, 

 or bramble. To this family belong the well-known 

 blackberry of our hedgerows, the raspberry, and the 

 cloudberry. This latter is an Alpine species, growing 

 only some six inches in height, and much prized in the 

 north of England and in Scotland for its orange berries, 

 which are eaten fresh or preserved. In Norway, we 

 are told, the fruit is regularly gathered, packed in 

 wooden vessels, and sent to Stockholm, where it is 

 served in desserts or made into tarts. The plant is 

 so abundant in Lapland that the celebrated traveller, 

 Dr. Clarke, observes, " Whenever we walked near the 

 river we found whole acres covered with these blush- 

 ing berries (at first crimson, afterwards becoming 

 yellow), hanging so thick that we could not avoid 

 treading upon them." The dewberry is a well-known 

 variety of the common bramble, marked by its creeping 

 habit and the glaucous bloom which covers its fruit. 

 The origin of the name is obscure, but Dr. Prior would 



