DEWBEEEY AGRIMONY. 101 



The Dewberry (E. csesius, Plate V1L, fig. 5), has a fruit of 

 few grains of a bluisli-black colour ; these are covered with a 

 bloom like that on a Plum. Its flowers are pure white or 

 tinged with lilac. 



The Hazel-leaved Bramble (E. corylifolius), has larger 

 flowers in a more scattered cluster, and long rambling round 

 stems ; in this last particular it agrees with the Dewberry and 

 Easpberry ; the more near allies of the Bramble have square 

 stems. Edward brought specimens of these from Kent. 



We must not set aside the whole troop of Blackberries as 

 mere play-feasting for children ; an excellent jam is made of the 

 fruit, which is pleasant, wholesome, and even medicinal. 

 Notable housewives make wine from the berries both in France 

 and England ; in the former country the bush is called " Pinte 

 de vin," in honour of this use. The young tops and stems 

 were eaten as salad by the Greeks, and are still used in dyeing. 



The Bramble was the subject of one of the earliest parables 

 of Palestine; and by analogy, with it the wise young man 

 Jotham showed to the men of Shechem the folly of anointing a 

 weak king to reign over them. The Bramble, being a trailing 

 plant, cannot give support to another, but needs a prop for 

 itself. It would thus suggest the far higher lesson, not to 

 " trust in princes, or in any child of man, in whom is no 

 strength ; " but to " trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord 

 JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." 



The Agrimony family is now the only one that remains of 

 the Strawberry group. Our one British species (A. eupatoria), 

 grows in lanes near Eipon, and near Eichmond; it has five 

 petals, five sepals, and two seeds enclosed in the tube of the 

 hardened calyx. Its yellow flowers grow on a tall slender 

 spike, and have an aromatic smell. It blooms in July. It used 

 to be valued as a tonic medicine. 



The Burnet group comes next. The seeds are contained in a 

 hardened calyx, but the flowers have the peculiarity of being 

 endowed with two calices, and are entirely destitute of corolla. 



