70 6. R. AFFINIS. 



vix reflexo." They seem never to be very strongly reflexed, 

 but rather patent or one or more sepals adpressed to the 

 ripe fruit. 



A plant called a weaker form of this species, var, tenuis 

 (Blox. MSS.), mentioned in the Flora of Leicestershire, 

 becomes strong and large in the Cambridge Botanical 

 Garden. It ditFers from the typical stat« of the species by 

 having patent prickles on both the stem and flowering 

 shoot; the basal leaflets subsessile and lanceolate, inter- 

 mediate lanceolate-acuminate, terminal leaflet obovate-lan- 

 ceolate-acuminate j flowering shoot sometimes with qninate 

 leaves like those of the stem, or when they are ternate the 

 lateral leaflets are unequal-based and lobed. The flowers 

 are racemose; the petals entire and white; the primordial 

 fruit-stalk longer than the calyx. Mr Bloxam informs me 

 that this is the plant which he formerly called (in letters to 

 his correspondents) R. Colemannianus. The plant cultivated 

 under that name in the Cambridge G-arden, which was 

 raised from seeds sent by Mr Bloxam, closely resembles 

 it, but has rather scattered and rather unequal declining 

 prickles, furrowed petioles, leaves nearly all ternate and flat, 

 leaflets very broad and concave, primordial fruit-stalk much 

 shorter than the calyx, and a stem which is rather arcuate- 

 procumbent than erect- arcuate. 



The R. plicatus (3 carinatus (Bell Salt.) is probably more 

 correctly placed here than combined with R. 2)licatus; but 

 its true position is rather doubtful. Its loose leafy panicle 

 and the nearly glabrous back of its sepals resemble those of 

 R. 2>liccitus; but its elliptical leaflets are very dissimilar from 

 those of any form of that species known to me. The lateral 

 leaflets of the floral leaves, narrow gradually to their base 

 as in R. affinis. This plant has received much less attention 

 than it merits. 



Many of the plants usually called R. plicatus belong more 



