441 
On the Genus Rubus. By Josrrpu Woops, F.L.S. 
If we wish fully to understand the various species of Rubus, it 
is necessary to be acquainted with the peculiar mode of growth 
prevalent in the genus. I propose in the present Paper to exa- 
mine this as it occurs among the Rudi with digitate leaves,—a 
tribe to which I think we may fairly apply the name of Brambles. 
With the first germination of the seed I am not acquainted ; 
but I presume the growth to be similar to that of the young 
shoot from an old root. This is what Mr. Borrer has well called 
assurgent, i.e. a shoot which, beginning with a nearly upright 
stem, has more or less of a tendency to arch downwards, being 
exactly the opposite of ascending, which denotes a curve upwards. 
No Bramble has an ascending stem ; nor can it be properly called 
decumbent or procumbent, both of which indicate a shoot which, 
at first nearly horizontal, turns upwards towards the end ; neither 
would it be correct to say of any of them that the stem is pro- 
strate : if it were so, it could not climb over hedges and bushes in 
the way we actually observe it. After arching downwards from the 
erect beginning and again meeting the ground, it becomes pro- 
strate, often extending to a great length ; and towards the autumn, 
if it touch the ground, it sends forth roots at its extremity, but 
never from the intervening parts,* curving a little, according to 
Babington, so as to form a second little arch, to obtain a better 
position for fixing its new roots in the soil. This can rarely be 
seen in the natural situations of the plant, as the stem is gene- 
rally so much supported by the bushes among which it grows as 
to render the process unnecessary. Where the shoot is so much 
elevated that it cannot reach the ground in autumn it sometimes, 
mstead of roots, produces a great number of small prickles, as if 
prickles and roots were interchangeable. This is prineipally ob- 
servable among the forms of R. cesius. The extremity of the 
shoot seems to prepare itself for rooting before any roots are ac- 
tually formed ; the prickles become smaller and more numerous, 
the leaves smaller and farther apart, and, for some inches before 
the end, are often totally wanting. 
This shoot produces no flowers (except perhaps in R. savatilis) 
in the year in which it is formed. Early in the succeeding year it 
* Babington says of R. Sprengelii, that it has a creeping barren shoot. I do 
not know if this is correct : nothing of the sort is noticed in the ‘ Rubi Germanici. 
NEES VOM ar te oul 
