540 Mr. Sabine's Notice respecting a Native British Rose. 



of the same author. The former is very correctly stated by Hudson as grow- 

 ing in the North of England, whilst the latter he says grows plentifully about 

 London. The experience of subsequent botanists has confirmed the correct- 

 ness of these locations, for the R. villosa of Woods does not exist in the South 

 of England, but his R. tomentosa grows not only in the South, but in one or 

 other of its various forms is found in almost every part of Great Britain. 



Sir James Smith in the second volume of his English Flora, which con- 

 tains the genus Rosa, has united and made a distinct species of the varieties 

 e and ri of Woods's Rosa tomentosa, calling it Rosa suhglobosa, and to this he 

 refers Sherard's Rose, the description of which is extracted above from Ray. 

 Sir James Smith at first had called the species Rosa Sherardi, but subse- 

 quently changed its designation. 



It is not part of my present object to discuss the question, whether the 

 above two plants described by Mr. Woods as varieties of Rosa tomentosa can 

 with propriety be separated from that species, as is proposed in the English 

 Flora ; I will therefore only briefly state my doubts on the subject. I have not 

 seen living plants of the variety s, but I suspect, from the different habitats 

 given to it, that different plants have been confounded together as one. As 

 regards the variety tj, I once searched for and found that growing in the 

 locality mentioned by Mr. Woods near Potter's Bar, and subsequently having 

 cultivated it, can pronounce decidedly that it is referable only to Rosa tomen- 

 tosa of Woods, of which it is a remarkable variety. 



The description of Sherard's Rose certainly led to the supposition that it 

 was a round smooth-fruited plant, having some affinity to the Rosa villosa of 

 Hudson and Woods, but especially distinguishable from it by the shape of the 

 hip. Being satisfied that nothing but an inspection of the actual plant would 

 set the question respecting it at rest, I caused some years since a strict search 

 to be made amongst the wild Roses in the vicinity of Kingston, and though 

 by this I obtained some very curious plants, I got nothing at all resembling 

 that I sought for. The discovery was reserved for myself. 



Four or five years back I found several plants of a Rose belonging to 

 Mr. Woods's setigerous section growing in a hedge a short distance from 

 Kingston. The plants in the hedge were so ill treated and cut about, that I 

 was disappointed in procuring flowers from them ; none were produced. I 



