THE COMMON BRAMBLES. 77 



entire roots of a grass, gathered from a down fed by 

 sheep from time immemorial. It is probably that of 

 the hard fescue (festuca duriuscula), which, having 

 been constantly eaten down by cattle, has never thrown 

 up flowering stems, giving out only radical leaves. 

 These appear to have been cropped short, as soon as 

 they have sprung up, the less succulent and strawy por- 

 tions only being left, like a ball upon the surface, as a 

 bush constantly clipped by the gardener's shears. The 

 root appears to have annually increased, though the 

 upper parts it was destined to nourish have been de- 

 stroyed, until it became a lock of closely compacted 

 fibres, like a tuft of hair, six or eight inches in length. 

 Furze bushes, growing upon many downs in Wales, 

 Devon, and Cornwall, assume commonly the appearance 

 of large, green, dense balls, every tender leaf being 

 constantly shorn away by the sheep and rabbits that 

 frequent those places, and present, upon a larger scale, 

 the very appearance of these grass-balls. Our speci- 

 mens are rather local than general, and were the pro- 

 duce of the Malvern hills. 



The common brambles (rubus caesius and fruticosus) 

 may almost be considered as evergreens. Hedgers to 

 be sure they are : but we have few, perhaps no other 

 shrubby plant, naturally deciduous, excepting the privet, 

 that will retain its verdure through the year, preserving, 

 by a peculiar construction of its vessels, a portion of 

 foliage unseared by frosts, and contending with gales 

 that destroy and strip away all the honors of its neigh- 

 bors. This circumstance enables us to observe a curi- 

 ous, strongly defined line upon the leaves, like a glossy 

 whitish film, meandering over the surface, becoming 

 progressively larger, with a fine intestinal-like line 

 running through the centre. What occasioned this 

 sinuous path long puzzled me satisfactorily to ascertain, 

 considering it entirely of vegetable origin ; and all the 

 various polymorphous parasitics were successively 

 thought of. At one time I deemed it like puccinia, 

 which vegetates beneath the cuticle of leaves : but this 

 was rejected ; and probably I might long have wandered 

 in error, had not the Rev. Mr. Kirby dissipated all my 

 G2 



