ROSE FAMILY 



feet in height. As late as the 29th of August we found 

 the fruit just turning a faint reddish tinge and quite pal- 

 atable and sweet to a hungry man. Natives say that the 

 fruit becomes ripe and black in September. The berries 

 are large, long and slender and very sweet, lacking the 

 sharply acid or bitterish quality of the berries of the 

 lower mountains. There are no thorns or prickles. 

 One can go through the patches unscathed. ^ ^ 

 There are several botanical characters which distin- 

 guish this species from the common blackberry, aside 

 from the absence of thorns. It lacks almost entirely, 

 except on some of the young shoots, the conspicuous- 

 ly pubescent character of the common species. The 

 leaves are thin, and the leaflets sharply toothed and 

 prominently long-pointed. One of the most prominent 

 characters lies in the leaflet stalks. Upon vigorous 

 shoots the leaflets are five, and the three upper ones 

 have stalks from one to three inches long." 



MOUNTAIN BLACKBERRY 



Riibiis allegheniensis. Rubiis villosjis, var. montamis. 



Similar to Riibus nigrobaccus, though smaller, stems 

 more slender, very prickly, branches commonly red- 

 dish, the younger parts glandular-pubescent. Fruit 

 dry with a somewhat spicy flavor, three-fourths to an 

 inch long, thimble-shaped, narrowing toward the tip; 

 drupelets small and numerous. Found on mountains 

 and high lands of the Atlantic states, throughout the 

 Alleghany region. In its typical iorms this blackberry 

 is very well marked, but it frequently seems to grade 

 back to the type. 



156 



