63 



BLACKBERRY. RUBUS ; 



OR, BRAMBLE BERRY. 



Natural order, Senticosa. A species of Raspberry. A 

 genus of the Icosandria Polygynia class. 



But check the progress of thy vasty toil : 

 First choose thy objects from thy native soil ; 

 Where, daily seen, they own thee for their lord, 

 And, born with thee, shall greater joy afford/' 



Delille. 



Berries, that emboss 



The bramble, black as jet, 



Hard fare ! but such as boyish appetite 

 Disdains not. 



Cowper* 



THE bramble which creeps along the hedge of every 

 soil, derives its Latin name, rubus, from the redness of its 

 twigs and the juice of its fruit. Pliny informs us, " that 

 the propagation of trees by layers was taught the ancients 

 by the bramble-bush." 



Some bow their vines, which buried in the plain, 

 Their tops, in distant arches, rise again. 



Dryden's Virgil. 



" The berries," says Pliny, " have a desiccative and 

 astringent virtue, and are a most appropriate remedy for 

 the gums and inflammation of the tonsils." The flowers 

 also, as well as the berries of the bramble, were con- 

 sidered by the ancients as remedies against the most dan- 



