174 



R. rhamnifolius, first form of that work, p. 227, is (in part) the cor- 

 date or typical form. 



No. 7 of Bloxam's Fasciculus is identical with the plant given in 

 the ' Fasciculus of Shropshire Rubi ;' so also is a plant communicated 

 to me by Mr. Lees, gathered in " thickets in Birchin Grove, Broad- 

 heath, two miles west of Worcester," and which I suppose is the R. 

 cordifolius of Lees in Steele's Hand-Book. 



The distinctly stalked lower leaflets, which never overlap the in- 

 termediate pair, and which spread or are turned backward consider- 

 ably, the stout red-coloured very angular and furrowed stem, with its 

 very strong straight horizontal or declinate prickles, readily distin- 

 guish this from R. corylifolius ; whilst the different cordate shape 

 and toothing of the leaves and the scattered straight declinate prickles 

 of the flowering stem, combined with its different panicle, separate it 

 from R. affinis. 



9. R. discolor, W. & N. 



The R. discolor and R. fruticosus of Fl. Shropsh. p. 228 and 229 

 prove, as there conjectured, to be forms only of the same species. 



The leaves of this species, which are indefinitely variable in shape, 

 afford no good characters whereby to determine the varieties observed 

 in Shropshire, whose distinctions may rather be grounded on the 

 clothing of the barren stem, the shape and direction of its prickles, 

 and the clothing and armature of the panicle and flowering stem. 



Var. a. Barren stem covered with minute stellate clusters 



of silky hairs, prickles confined to the angles, large, stout, 

 very dilated at the base, straight and declinate, or curved 

 and deflexed, clothed similarly to the stem ; panicle white, 

 tomentose and with long spreading hairs, prickles strong, 

 tolerably abundant, decurved, silky with minute stellate clus- 

 ters of hairs. 

 " No. 9, R. fruticosus " of Bloxam's Fascic. Rub. ranges here. 



Var. @. Barren stem nearly glabrous and glaucous, prickles 



large, stout, horizontal, straight ; panicle white tomentose 

 and much more hairy than in a., prickles straight and decli- 

 nate or deflexed. 

 The specimens in the 'Fasciculus of Shropshire Rubi ' belong to 

 one or other of the above varieties. 



Var. y. Barren stem with scattered weak spreading hairs, 



prickles very numerous, decurved, or straight and declinate ; 

 panicle white tomentose and very hairy, hairs long and pa- 

 tent, prickles declinate and decurved. 



