56 4. K. Fissus. 



and stalked; furrowed petioles and midribs beneath with 

 many hooked prickles; stipules linear-lanceolate. 



Flowering shoot from dark brown scales, rather hairy, with 

 a few subsessile glands and a few scattered declining or 

 deflexed prickles. Leaves temate; leaflets oblong-ovate, 

 rounded or narrowed at the base; basal sessile, sometimes 

 rather gibbous on one side at the base; terminal stalked: 

 uppermost leaves simple, ovate. Fanicle simple, racemose- 

 corymbose; lower flowers axillary, longstalked. Sepals at 

 first patent, afterwards often loosely clasping the fruit, ovate- 

 acuminate, shining, green, and often nearly glabrous extern- 

 ally, edged with white felt. Petals white, oval-spathulate. 

 Stamens whitish. Styles cream-coloured. Primordial fruit- 

 stalk rather short. Fruit bright red until very nearly ripe, 

 ultimately of a port-wine colour. 



I formerly separated many plants fi-om R. fissus, and 

 joined them to R. j^Ucatus, which I am now quite convinced 

 really belong to it. fissus and that R. plicatus must include 

 only the strong plants which have stout hooked prickles upon 

 their stems, and do not usually if ever, possess a lobed ter- 

 minal leaflet or three leaflets in its place. As far as our 

 plants are concerned that form of leaflet, combined with a 

 suberect stem, seems to be confined to R. suherectus and R. 

 fissus. The stems of R. fissus are truly suberect; they some- 

 times arch considerably, but never reach the ground and 

 root there. When its prickles are few in number they are 

 confined to the angles of the stem, but when more abundant 

 they also grow upon its convex faces, and in that respect 

 diflfer from those of the allied plants. The prickles resemble 

 those of R. suherectus, but are much longer relatively to 

 theii' bases. The flowering shoot has not the gibbous nor 

 broadbased lateral leaflets of R. 2)licatus ; nor are they so 

 narrowed at the base as those of R. afiinis. The erect- 

 patent calyx is not constantly present with the fruit- 



