Mr. C. C. Babino-ton on the Bi'itish Rubi. 35 



•o 



palis ovatis a fructu reflexis, sii/lis virescentibus, toro oblongo pe- 



dunculato. 

 R. corylifolius, Sm. Fl. Brit. 542 ; Eng. Bot. 827 ; Arrh. Rub. Suec. 



16 ; Bab. Man. ed. 1. 95, ed. 2. 98; Syn. Rub. 12 ; Fries, Summa 



Veg. Scand. 168. 

 R. affinis, Bab. Man. ed. 1. 93. 

 R. affinis y, Leight. Fl. Shrop. 226. 

 R. sublustris, Lees in Steele Handb. 54. 



Stems long, usually glabrous. Prickles moderate. Petioles 

 deeply furrowed above witb nearly straight prickles beneath > 

 Panicle rather pyramidal than corymbose ; branches corymbose, 

 few-flowered, the lower ones often elongated and spreading; 

 prickles long, straight^ slender, declining, with a bulbous base; 

 hairs ash-coloured. Primordial fruit oblong ; torus manifestly 

 stalked, leaving a clear space between the lowest drupe and the 

 calyx. Base of the filaments and styles pink. Petals oblong, 

 pinkish or white. 



It is believed that the above will be found an improvement 

 upon the character which I formerly gave for R. corylifolius. 



Obs. Since this paper was communicated to the Society Mr. 

 Leighton has published elaborate descriptions of what he consi- 

 ders as four varieties of i?. corylifolius (Phytol. iii. 159), and has 

 kindly informed me by letter to which of them several of the 

 specimens in my collection belong. He also suggests that my 

 R. incurvatuSj described below, may be his R. corylifolius jB, but 

 with that opinion I cannot altogether agree, since his plant is 

 characterized by a stem '^ green and slightly tinged with reddish 

 purple," whilst the true R. incurvatus has the dark purple stem 

 of his varieties 7. and S. 



I have no doubt that the figure published under the super- 

 intendence of Smith (Eng. Bot. t. 827) represents R. corylifolius 

 a. sublustris (Leight.), not his 7. Smithii, and that he had the 

 same plant in view when writing the ^ Fl. Brit.,^ but that the 

 R. corylifolius of the ' Eng. Flora ' is purposely so described as 

 to include plants with much more angular stems. Two plants 

 from near Bath, named R. corylifolius by my friend Mr. Borrer, 

 than whom no higher authority exists, belong apparently to the 

 variety 8. intermedius of Leighton. 



The strongly angular stems of the plants included under Mr. 

 Leighton^s varieties 7. and S. have always appeared to me to 

 separate them from the true R. corylifolius, i. e. from his varieties 

 a. and jB, although the latter has slightly angular stems. They 

 also have much less, or not at all, subulate prickles, but rather 

 compressed ones. Arrhenius remarks of R. corylifolius (the plant 

 of Smith), ^' caulis sterilis teres, versus apicem angulatus, .... 

 viridis, sub sole rubescens." 



3* 



