75 



at the base and apex, the white tomentum with which the inside is 

 entirely lined forming only a narrow white line on the margins. 



Mr. Babington, who has communicated his notes to me, quotes 

 Arrhen. Rub. Suec. 25, Fries, Summa, 165, to our plant, and consi- 

 ders it identical with a plant he has from Loch Eil, Scotland. 



I think, also, plants gathered at Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire (No. 

 15) by Mr. Babington, and others in Cowleigh Park, near Great Mal- 

 vern, Worcestershire, by the Rev. A. Bloxam, will probably be refer- 

 red to this species. 



Mr. Babington also mentions that he detected (1847) a variety at 

 Llanberis, Caernarvonshire, in which the " leaves are pubescent, but 

 not tomentose beneath, and the prickles of the panicle much fewer, 

 smaller, and more slender." 



6. R. nitidus, W. & N. 



This species, of which specimens are given in the Fasciculus, is 

 not described in the Shropsh. Fl. Mr. Babington identifies our plant 

 with that of his Synopsis. It does not, however, agree with the figure 

 in Rub. Germ. t. 4, though corresponding generally with the de- 

 scription in that work. It is common in the hedges and thickets 

 around Shrewsbury. 



It is easily recognized by the coarsely doubly serrated leaves, more 

 or less wavy or plaited on the margins, which in their form and ser- 

 rature bear much resemblance to those of R. rudis a. of the glandu- 

 lose section. Its flowers are white, conspicuous and showy, the 

 petals hanging loosely. The panicle is usually very large and com- 

 pound, the branches distant, spreading in a very divaricate form, 

 frequently, as Babington's Synopsis expressively remarks, "nearly at 

 right angles to the rachis." 



There is a peculiarity about the panicle which is characteristic, 

 and deserves attention. The peduncles and pedicels divide or branch 

 beyond or above the middle of their length, and the pedicels of the 

 lateral flowers, in every division of the panicle, exceed in length the 

 pedicel of the terminal flower ; which causes the flowers to appear as 

 if all arranged on the outside of the panicle, whilst the eye looks 

 amongst the branches as into a skeleton frame-work. 



Weihe and Nees, Rub. Germ. p. 20, describe the prickles of the 

 panicle as curved, " ad instar cornu recurvis," but in our plant, al- 

 though a few recurved prickles may be detected in the lower portion 

 of the panicle, or rather on the flowering shoot where it joins on to 

 the panicle, the generality of them are straight and declinate. 



They have also a peculiarity in their arrangement worthy of notice. 



