136 



first, respecting the point whether it should not be considered as a 

 variety of some other species ; and secondly, whether my plant be in 

 reality precisely that to which Weihe first gave this name. With re- 

 spect to the first point, in the absence of sufficient proof I shall not 

 venture to express any decided opinion, but adopt the distinction and 

 nomenclature as they now stand ; and with respect to the second 

 point, while the chai-acters of my Selborne plant sufficiently accord 

 with the figure and description of Weihe and Nees, to be considered 

 as the same species, I shall not hesitate to draw up my description 

 from the coincident characters of their and my plant, and afterwards 

 mention those points which would probably make mine to be a vari- 

 ety of Lejeunii, should this ultimately be retained as a species, or a 

 sub-variety, should Lejeunii lapse into a variety, as I suspect, of ano- 

 ther species. The following is a description of the species. 



Stem arched, slender, slightly angled, sparingly hairy and glandu- 

 lose ; prickles variable, and gradually passing into setae, a few very 

 long and deflected. Leaves quinato-pedate, occasionally ternate ; 

 leajiels obovato-lanceolate, acuminate, unequally serrated, bright and 

 shining above, paler and pubescent beneath. Stipul<B linear, hairy 

 and very glandulose. Panicle branched, tomentose, prickly and glan- 

 dulose ; peduncles thickly strewed with long white-pointed aciculae 

 and glands. Bracteas numerous, lanceolate, simple or trifid, very 

 hairy and glandulose. Calyx broadly lanceolate, acuminate, densely 

 tomentose, reflexed in fruit. 



The prickles in this pretty bramble, as mentioned in the above de- 

 scription, are very variable; the majority are small, but a few of the 

 larger ones have thick bases and are somewhat hooked. The leaves 

 are variable, having three, four or five leaflets, which, however, are all 

 pedicellate ; * the lower part of the panicle is leafy, with ternate leaves, 

 and armed as the shoot ; the upper part and pedicels are covered with 

 a loose tomentum, and thickly strewed with straight fine prickles, red 

 at the base and white at the tip. The flowers are of a very bright 

 rose; tint. The whole plant forms a very beautiful shrub, with much 

 the general aspect of the variety B. of R. carpinifolius. 



The Selborne plant varies from that of Weihe and Nees in having 

 the stem less armed, though with the same description of clothing, 

 and the arch more ascending. This may have arisen from its growing 



* The description of the leaf in ' Ruhi Gerraanici ' is so happy and characteristic, 

 that I am tempted to transcribe it. " Folia parum distautia, ternata, quaternata vel 

 quinata, et tunc quidera pleraque pedatisecta." — p. 79. 



