918 



of growth I have been mentioning, I infer that Mr. Babington's " py- 

 ramidalis " is, in fact, a dilated form of R. Menkii, W. Sf N., for I 

 have distinctly traced the connexion between the two ; and interme- 

 diate states occur ; but Menkii is the smaller and typical form. 

 Mr. Babington has himself marked this rule with correctness of obser- 

 vation, under R. Guntheri, to which I agree, with him, that R. thyr- 

 siflorus, W. Sf N., is to be referred, as an overgrown variety ; and 

 what 1 called R. thyrsiflorus, in Steele's * Handbook,' from Devon- 

 shire specimens, now proves to be decidedly a large thyrsifloral 

 variety of Guntheri. 



I am not very well acquainted with R. Salteri ; but Dr. Bell-Salter 

 has referred my friend Bloxam's " Balfourianus " to it, as a variety, 

 which fully coincides with my ideas, as this last I know to be quite 

 a gigantic bramble, with very large foliage, and a widely-dilated 

 panicle. Indeed, most permanent forms of bramble will be found to 

 have a variety with long thyrsiform panicles ; and both R. fuscus and 

 R. Bellardi well display this. So, also, does the var. macroacanthus 

 among the hairy-stemmed Rubi. 



It is now generally admitted that the fruticose brambles are not 

 strictly biennial shrubs ; and I have named the principal division of 

 the group " subperenuial," as existing for an indefinite time, though 

 not absolutely perennial like a rose-bush. If circumstances are 

 unfavourable to the barren shoot of the year rooting in the ground, it 

 throws out other proliferous barren shoots the second year ; and thus 

 the system of vitality is maintained for a considerable period.* In 

 fact, many brambles are almost evergreens, flourishing through the 

 winter, if no very severe frosts intervene. I have noticed numerous 

 old shrubs of R. discolor ; and one of R. Schlechtendahlii, in Cowleigh 

 Park, near Great Malvern, has maintained itself, to my knowledge, 

 for more than fifteen years. It has now enormously thick stems. 

 Thus, an underwood of bramble of one particular kind will long 

 remain in a copse, till suddenly its vitality becomes exhausted, and a 

 wide extent of withered thorns meets the surprised eye of the observer, 

 not to be renewed, exactly in that spot, for years to come. The sub- 

 erect brambles, however, may be said to be more truly biennial, though 

 even these often throw out flowering shoots from the old barren stem 

 a third year. The vestiture of the barren shoot of the year, towards 

 its base, offers the best guide to the sectional position of the plant. 



* Secondary axillary rooting shoots are occasionally thrown off from the barren 

 stem, and even from the branches of the flowering panicle. 



