BRAMBLE 



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difficult to penetrate, like numerous croquet hoops (but larger) set here 

 and there, crossing each other in all directions. Those who have tried 

 to find a grasshopper warbler's nest know what I mean. 



This Blackberry has the shrub habit. The stem is prickly, arching, 

 prostrate. It may be hairless, bluish-green, or have prickles, bristles, 

 and gland-tipped hairs. There are no suckers, the stem is round or 

 angular. The barren stems are more or less erect, or arch and root 

 from a point near the extremity, giving rise to fresh plants. The 



BRAMBLE (Rubus fruticosus (= rusticanus, Merc.)) 



Photo. R L J. Horn 



down is closely appressed. The prickles are equal, and are bent 

 downwards, with an enlarged, flattened base. The leaves are ternate 

 or quinate, with 3 or 5 leaflets. They are hairless, with fine hard felt 

 below, with the margins bent downwards. The leaflets are leathery, 

 convex, rough, stalked, overlapping or not, inversely egg-shaped, 

 rhomboid, coarsely irregularly toothed, dark-green above, paler below 

 (hence discolor]. The terminal leaflet is inversely egg-shaped, blunt- 

 pointed. 



The flowers are pink or white, in terminal racemes, with corymb- 

 like or long lateral branches. The panicle is long, narrow. The 

 petals are pink. The calyx is finely woolly-felted. The anther-stalks 

 and styles are purple, the stamens longer than the styles. The 



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