210 Bush-Fruits 



opening first, and the flowers are few and scattered, gen- 

 erally borne on long and ascending pedicels, or stems, 

 which tend to raise both flowers and fruit well toward the 

 end of the shoot. In the blackberries the opposite of these 

 characters is found. The clusters are corymbose or race- 

 mose, the outer flowers generally opening first, and the 

 flowers are borne in rather dense clusters, the pedicels 

 being shorter, as a rule, and standing more nearly at right 

 angles to the main stem of the cluster. The dewberries 

 propagate by means of tips, while the blackberries propa- 

 gate by suckers, a point of much practical importance, in 

 cultivation. Even this important point of distinction 

 is not absolute. The common varieties of blackberries 

 will occasionally root at the tips, as I have personally 

 seen. Despite these characters, forms are found, both 

 wild and in cultivation, so intermediate in character as to 

 make them very difficult to classify. These intermediate 

 forms are of special interest, and illustrate in a remark- 

 able way the possibilities of admixture in the genus. 

 Many of them are very productive, in apparent de- 

 fiance of the pronouncements of science, which are that 

 hybrids should be deficient in fruitfulness. 



The most important type in cultivation is that repre- 

 sented by the northern dewberry. In this group four 

 species are now recognized by Bailey (Cyclopedia of 

 Horticulture). First is the one long known as Rubus 

 canadensis, later thought to be the R. villosus of Aiton 

 but now given the name R. procumbens, Muhl. This is the 

 prevailing type of the northeastern states, except along 

 the coast, reaching southward to Virginia. It is a running 

 plant with canes usually bearing stout, recurved prickles, 



