DOG-ROSE AND BRAMBLES. 131 



who watch nature closely know how hard it is to draw 

 an effective line between species anywhere ; and most 

 observers differ among themselves as to the exact spot 

 at which, if anywhere, it can best be drawn. 



Take, for example, our English wild roses and 

 brambles here. This that I hold in my hand is a true 

 dog-rose, with a scented pinky blossom, and with few 

 or no glands upon the edges of its leaflets. It is the 

 commonest English form of all ; but it merges so inde- 

 finitely into the various other kinds that while Mr. 

 Babington and Mr. Borrer made seventeen distinct 

 species altogether, Mr. Bentham recognises only five ; 

 and other authorities distinguish seven, nine, and 

 thirteen respectively. Here in the hedgerow grows a 

 second sort, the field-rose, with more trailing stems, 

 paler white flowers, and more globular fruit — besides the 

 purely technical character that all its styles are united 

 together into a tall projecting column, instead of issuing 

 separately from a little vent in the calyx. Scentless, 

 the books usually call it, too, though to me it has a 

 distinct and pleasant perfume, fainter than the dog- 

 rose's, but undeniably real and perceptible. This bush, 

 however, merges by infinitesimal gradations into the 

 true dog-rose, so that even experienced botanists of the 

 old dogmatic type cannot always tell you to which of 

 the two species they would verbally assign a particular 

 specimen. Each has his own nostrum — his special point 

 on which he relies in diagnosis ; and no two of them 

 ever agree as to what it shall be, nor can any of them 

 give you a valid reason for preferring his private system 

 to anybody else's. 



Then, again, on the other side, the dog-rose merges 



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