176 



merely adopted by Linnaeus from him, in preference to sylvestris given 

 to it by Parkinson, cannot be applied to the present species, which 

 was confounded with it by Linnaeus, and was first noticed by Dille- 

 nius." The following remarks on V. pumila, from the pen of Mr. W. 

 H. Purchas, are interesting and valuable as apparently affording a 

 good mark of distinction between that species and V. canina : — 



" A series of buds are, towards the autumn, formed in the axils of 

 the lowermost leaves of each flowering branch ; of these it sometimes 

 happens that one or two only develope into new flower-bearing shoots 

 in the succeeding spring, the remainder being then found below or 

 above the base of the new flowering shoot, according to the position 

 of the bud from which it has been produced. Later in the season the 

 rest of the buds elongate into branches, producing fruit, but without 

 expanding or even foi'ming a corolla: this last is also at the same 

 time exhibited by the older branches. The old flowering stem dies 

 in the winter down to the point at which the buds just mentioned are 

 formed, and thus it is always found above the point from which the 

 new one springs ; while in V. canina the reverse is the case, the dead 

 flowering stems always appearing helow the new ones." — P. 48. 



When may we hope to see the much vexed question of the British 

 frulicose brambles placed upon a sound footing ? A tyro may well be 

 excused for making this inquiry, when he finds those whom he re- 

 gards as masters in botany so much at variance regarding the specific 

 distinctness of these troublesome plants. We look back to the fifth 

 edition of the ' British Flora,' and there find ten forms characterized 

 as species ; we next turn to the second edition of Babington's Manual, 

 and to our consternation perceive no fewer than thirty-hvo so charac- 

 terized ; again, on referring to the sixth edition of the Flora, lo and 

 behold ! these are reduced to the moderate number of six ! — with a 

 foot-note indicative of a wish to reduce them still further to ^\four 

 types," while the opinion is plainly expressed that they constitute but 

 one variable species!! In the form of a " Supplement," however, is 

 given Dr. Bell Salter's Synopsis of the British Rubi, and there the 

 fruticose brambles are again raised to the number of twenty-one !!! 

 We think it evident, notwithstanding the insertion of this clever Sy- 

 nopsis, that the editors are not inclined to retract the opinion recorded 

 at p. 120 of the Flora, in the following words : — " We are almost quite 

 convinced — practically, not only because the characters taken from 

 the young shoots, and disappearing when they are older and begin to 

 blossom, are not permanent, but because none of the reputed species 

 of the shrubby brambles are either anatomically or physiologically 



