1053 



plants of its order, has a great tendency to exhaust itself in root, and 

 that whilst in some of its stations it may be induced to flower freely, 

 in others, circumstances rather favour its propagation by the creeping 

 rhizoma." The plants at the road-side station were dwarf and very 

 much scattered, sending up only here and there flower stems, while 

 those by the side of the stream were tall, robust, and much thicker 

 clustered together. I shall be happy to supply specimens to any of 

 your readers with whom it may be a desideratum. 



Wm. M. Ogilvie. 



Castle Street, Dundee, Sept. 18, 1850. 



Botanical Notes, the result of a visit to Glamorgan and Monmouth- 

 shire, in the latter 'part of July and beginning of August, 1850. 

 By Joseph Woods, Esq., F.L.S. 



Most botanists who have attended much to the species of Rnbus, 

 form their idea of what constitutes a species rather from the general 

 habit, than from particular characters, and where there are no clearly 

 marked and uniform characters, this is perhaps the only way of forming 

 correct opinions. But however indispensable as a beginning, it is 

 only a beginning. It is true that what is called habit is formed by 

 the combination of many small particulars, but these are so nume- 

 rous, so indistinct, and often so inexplicable, that it is impossible for 

 one man to communicate to another his perception of habit ; and his 

 knowledge, as far as that is concerned, dies with him. No two persons 

 arranging a collection of plants by the habit alone, would distribute 

 them into the same set of species. Similar plants must be put to- 

 gether, but then some definite characters must be elaborated from 

 their comparison. This comparison then of character with habit is 

 the great desideratum of the botanist in the formation of species, and 

 particularly important in the species of Rubus, and it is an object 

 which I have kept in view in making the following observations. Be- 

 sides the close affinity between the species of this genus, and the va- 

 riations to which they are subject, there are some further difficulties 

 in the way of forming a correct idea of the habit of a bramble. The 

 species grow mixed and entangled together, and the habit is ob- 

 scured. The mode of growth too is adverse to our studies. The root 

 sends out a shoot one year, which bears flowers in the next, when the 

 leaves had all disappeared. At the same time it puts forth new 

 shoots, but growing as it usually does, in hedges or among bushes, it 



