CLASS XII. ORDER III.] RtJBtJS. 725 



7. R. leucosta'chys, Smith. (Fig. 821.) long clustered Bramble, 

 Stem archgd, slightly angled and furrowed, hairy; prickles equal, 

 nearly straight, horizontal or deflexed ; leaves digitate, of five stalked 

 roundish ovate jagged flat coriaceous leaflets, or paler white beneath ; 

 panicle elongated, leafy, prickly, and scattered over with a few stalked 

 glands. 



English Flora, vol. ii. p. 404. Borrer in English Botany, Suppl. t. 

 2631. Hooker, British Flora, ed. 3. vol. i.. p. 249. Lindley, Synopsis, 

 p. 95. 



/3. Stem less shaggy ; prickles very large. 



Hooker, British Flora, ed. 3. vol. i. p. 249. 



Stem stout, many feet long, arched, obtusely angular towards the 

 root, frequently nearly round, and but slightly furrowed, more so above 

 than below, clothed with long spreading soft hairs, when young be- 

 coming almost naked, sometimes the pubescence is quite close pressed, 

 the stem becoming by exposure a dark purple. Prickles numerous or 

 scattered, straight, or slightly hooked, spreading horizontally, or de- 

 flexed. Leaves with long stout slightly channeled footstalks, and like 

 the mid-ribs more or less numerously furnished with slender hooked 

 prickles, leaflets roundish ovate, with an acute or abrupt point, 

 rounded, or mostly cordate at the base, of a leathery texture, dark 

 green, and smooth above, paler beneath, and clothed with soft tawny 

 shining pubescence, the upper ones often quite white, the margins flat, 

 unequally serrated or jagged. Panicle various, mostly long and 

 narrow, with the lower branches arising from the axis of the upper 

 leaves, or naked, and almost a simple raceme, clothed with shaggy or 

 close down, amongst which are scattered a few stalked glands and 

 seta, and more or less numerous slender hooked prickles. Calyx with 

 ovate acute, rarely with the point elongated, spreading or reflexed 

 segments, thickly covered with white or tawny close pressed pubescence, 

 rarely armed with prickles. Petals roundish oblong, white, or pink, 

 spreading. Stamens with slender filaments, and roundish purple 

 anthers. Fruit globose, black, of a pleasant sweet taste when quite 

 ripe. 



Habitat. Woods, thickets, hedges, &c. ; Sussex. Mr. Borrer. 

 Hampshire, Berkshire. Mr. Bicheno. Not unfrequent in Notting- 

 hamshire. R. D. p. Essex. Mr. Forster. 



Shrub; flowering from July to August. 



This species approaches R. fruticosus in its general appearance, and 

 we have frequently found specimens so intermediate between the two as 

 to be at a loss to know to which species to refer them. The stem, how- 

 ever, is much less angular, and but slightly furrowed; the prickles of 

 the panicle are larger, more numerous, and scattered over with glands, 

 which characters, when they occur on an elongated naked panicle, 

 approach to R. Koehleri. The R. diversifolia, Lindley's Syaopsis, Mr. 

 Borrer thinks might be referred to this species. 



5 B 



