THE COMMON BRAMBLES. 105 



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 radicle leaves. 

 These appear to have been cropped short, as soon 

 as they have sprung up, the less succulent and 

 strawy portions only being left, like a ball upon the 

 surface, as a bush constantly clipped by the gar- 

 dener's shears. The root appears to have annually 

 increased, though the upper parts it was destined 

 to nourish have been destroyed, until it became a 

 lock of closely compacted fibres, like a tuft of hair, 

 six or eight inches in length. Furze bushes, grow- 

 ing upon many downs in Wales, Devon, and Corn- 

 wall, assume commonly the appearance of large, 

 green, dense balls, every tender leaf being con- 

 stantly 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 specimens are rather local than general, and 

 were the produce of the Malvern hills. 



The common brambles (rubus caesius and fruti- 

 cosus) may almost be considered as evergreens. 

 Hedgers to be sure they are : but we have few, 

 perhaps no other shrubby plant, naturally deci- 

 duous, excepting the privet, that will retain its 

 verdure through the year, preserving, by a pe- 

 culiar construction of its vessels, a portion of 

 foliage unseared by frosts, and contending with 



