RAND'S BLACKBERRY 363 



Bigelow's plant, described it in 1891 as Rubits hispidus 

 var. snberectus (Fig. 81). It bears a rather small black 

 or reddish fruit, ripening in July and August, of about 

 the quality of the dewberry fruit. The plant is ascend- 

 ing or half erect, the older stems densely clothed with 

 slender but stiff slightly bent prickles. The leaflets 

 are very strongly toothed, not shining as in Rubus his- 

 pidus, and also thinner and longer than in that species. 

 The plant occurs in New York, Pennsylvania and New 

 England. It is not cultivated. (See page 377.) 



A slender and peculiar woods form of the high -bush 

 blackberry, which is shown half-size in Fig. 82, is 

 found upon Mt. Desert, coast of Maine, westward and 

 northward, and which I. once named Rubus villosus var. 

 Randii (see Rand and Redfield's "Flora of Mt. Desert 

 Island," p. 94, 1894), in compliment to Mr. Edward L. 

 Rand, who has been a most energetic explorer of the 

 flora of the interesting island where it is found. It 

 gives no promise to the cultivator, but the student of 

 our native blackberries may like a characterization of 

 it, for the variety is probably widely distributed north- 

 wards. Its chief botanical marks are these : Low and 

 diffuse (1 to 2% feet high), the canes bearing very 

 few and weak prickles or often entirely unarmed, very 

 slender and soft, sometimes looking as if nearly her- 

 baceous ; leaves very thin and nearly or quite smooth 

 beneath and on the petioles, the teeth rather coarse 

 and unequal ; cluster short, with one or two simple 

 leaves in its base, not villous, and very slightly if at 

 all pubescent ; flowers half or less the size of those of 

 the blackberry ; fruit small, dry and "seedy." Its chief 

 characters are its low, weak and practically unarmed 

 stems, thin leaves and small flowers. (See page 385.) 



