182 Mr. Woods on the British Species of Rosa. 



of his R.maJaUs, of which he declares, " Rami ratnulique in ma- 

 tiiro frutice sa^pius toti inermes, rarius aculeis stipularibus paucis 

 rectis gracilibus armati." The principal, or rather, I believe, the 

 only ground on which this reference is supported is, that the 

 place of growth of R. majalis agrees with that pointed out by 

 Linnaeus for R. spinosissima, and that no other Rose grows in simi- 

 lar situations. 



Dr. Afzelius, in his Tentamen primiim cle Rosis Suecanis, p. 3, 

 remarks, " that Linnaeus himself was at last inclined to unite 

 R. spinosissima with R. pim}nnellifolia ; but that in earlier times he 

 certainly was of a different opinion : because R. pimpineUifolia 

 is not a native of Sweden, much less is it a plant growing ' ad 

 agrorum margincs eorumque acervos passim ;' nor has it soft 

 fruit. Therefore," continues he, " we cannot doubt that Linnaeus 

 at first intended some other species, which he afterwards seems 

 to have forgotten; at first substituting in its place a Rose ' ger- 

 minibus ovatis,' and afterwards confusing both with R. pimpiuel- 

 lifoiia." A little further on. Dr. Afzelius adds, that from an exa- 

 mination of the places pointed out by Linnaeus, it appears clearly 

 that the species of Rosa called by him spinosissima, is one of the 

 many varieties of R. cinnamomea, " Itaque," he proceeds, " haec 

 erit R. spinosissima, Linn, prima et vera, quae circa Upsaliam et 

 alibi crescit locis indicatis, est frutex parvus surculis caulibusque 

 junioribus spinosissimis, et fructus matures habet rotundos moUes, 

 dulces, rubidos." This account, if I understand it right, agrees 

 with that of Dr. AVahlenberg : but if this is the case, some diflS- 

 culty is introduced by the expression " caulibus junioribus spino- 

 sissimis;" as the young stems of R. cinnamomea are sometimes 

 densely covered with setae, and in the usual language of bo- 

 tany, as applied to Roses, might be called rough ; but it seems 

 a considerable license to call them thorny. Another unfortu- 

 nate circumstance with respect to this passage is, that we do not 



know 



