XXVI. ROSACES. 183 



The Virginian Raspberry, often cultivated in shrubberies, is the R. odo- 

 ratus from North America. R. arcticus, a low plant, with creeping root- 

 stock, and short, herbaceous stems, like R. Chamcemorus, but with 3 

 leaflets and pink flowers, has been inserted in our Floras as having been 

 found in the Scotch Highlands, but this appears to be a mistake. 



1. R. Ideeus, Linn. (fig. 307). Raspberry. Rootstock perennial and 

 creeping ; the flowering stems biennial, nearly erect, 3 or 4 feet high, 

 more or less downy, and armed with weak prickles. Stipules small, 

 subulate, often inserted some way up the leafstalk. Leaves pinnate ; 

 leaflets 5 in the lower leaves, often 3 only in the upper ones, ovate or oblong, 

 pointed, coarsely toothed, of a light green above and whitish underneath. 

 Flowers white, in long panicles at the ends of the short branches. Petals 

 narrow and short. Fruit red, sometimes white in cultivation, usually 

 separating from the receptacle when ripe. 



In woods throughout Europe and Russian Asia. Generally distributed 

 over Britain, but perhaps in some localities escaped from cultivation. 

 Fl. spring or early summer. [R. obtusifolius, Willd., Leesii, Bab., is a 

 variety or hybrid with shorter crowded leaflets, found sparsely from 

 Dumfries southwards.] 



2. R. fruticosus, Linn. (fig. 308). Bramble, Blaclberry. Rootstock 

 perennial, without underground creeping shoots ; the flowering stems 

 biennial, or of few years' duration, sometimes nearly erect, but more 

 frequently arched, straggling or prostrate, often rooting, and forming 

 fresh plants at the extremity, usually armed with prickles, either stout 

 and hooked or thin and straight, with stiff hairs, or glandular bristles, or a 

 short down, all variously intermingled or occasionally wanting. Stipules 

 subulate or linear, inserted a short way up the leafstalk. Leaflets rather 

 large and coarse, either 3 or 5, the 2 or 4 lower ones inserted together at 

 some distance below the terminal one, ovate, toothed, more or less downy, 

 the midribs as well as the stalks usually armed with small hooked prickles. 

 Flowers white or pink, in panicles at the ends of the branches. Fruit 

 black, or very rarely dull red, not separating readily from the receptacle, 

 the calyx usually turned down under it, seldom Closing over it as in R. 

 casius. 



In hedges, thickets, woods, and waste places, over nearly the whole 

 of Europe, Russian and central Asia, and northern Africa, but not a 

 high alpine nor an Arctic species. Abundant in Britain. Fl. summer, 

 commencing early. It varies considerably, especially in the prickles and 

 hairs, and in the shape of the leaflets, and from its propagating so 

 readily by its rooting stems, individual variations are often extensively 

 multiplied, and acquire an undue importance in the eyes of local 

 observers. The consequence has been an excessive multiplication of 

 supposed species, both in Britain and on the Continent, although 

 scarcely any two writers will be found to agree in the characters and 

 limits to be assigned to them. The British Flora (8th edit.) admits 6 

 species, but for those who adopt a further division, short characters are 

 given for 34. Babington's Manual (8th edit.) distinguishes 45. Amongst 

 those which have been observed in Britain, the following appear to be 

 the most marked, although even these will very frequently be found to 

 pass imperceptibly one into the other. 



a. R. fruticosus communis. Leaflets covered underneath with a close, 

 white down. Flowers usually numerous. Chiefly in hedges and thickets. 



