216 ROSACEA. RuBUs. 



Stems 4-8 feet long, and erect or reclined when growing along fences, in bushy places, 

 or in woods, but usually prostrate or trailing in open fields, armed (as well as the petioles and 

 under surface of the midrib) with strong prickles ; the younger branches and peduncles clothed 

 with a villous pubescence, which is usually mixed with glandular hairs. Leaves mostly tri- 

 foliolate, with the terminal leaflet on a long stalk ; but often, particularly in vigorous shoots, 

 there arc 5 leaflets, three or all of which are on long partial footstalks : leaflets 2-5 inches 

 long, often cordate at the base, usually acuminate. Racemes (in the common large upright 

 forms) oblong, loose, 10 - 30-flowercd, the upper flowers commonly opening first ; in the 

 other varieties, few-flowered, or even reduced to solitary flowers. Pedicels 1-2 inches long. 

 Sepals abruptly contracted at the summit into a long narrow point. Petals nearly an inch 

 long, often almost lanceolate. Fruit ovoid-oblong or nearly cylindrical, half an inch to an inch 

 in length, black and shining, very juicy and sweet when ripe. 



A very common plant throughout the United States. Fl. May - June. Fr. July - August. 

 It varies much in its appearance according to its place of growth ; the prostrate and trailing 

 state of it, as found in open fields, being very unlike its upright form as seen along fences and 

 in thickets ; yet the two often pass into each other. The ripe fruit is very wholesome, and 

 an infusion of the astringent root is a popular remedy for diarrhoea. 



6. RuBus Canadensis, Linn. Low Blackberry. Dewberry. 



Stem shrubby, ascending at the base, trailing or procumbent, somewhat prickly ; leaves 

 trifoliolate or pedately 5-foliolatc, smooth or pubescent ; leaflets rhombic-ovate or almost 

 lanceolate, mostly acute or acuminate, membranaceous, sharply and unequally serrate, often 

 somewhat incised ; stipules linear, entire or serrate ; flowers racemose or somewhat corym- 

 bose, with leafy bracts, the lower peduncles distant, the upper crowded ; petals obovate, twice 

 the length of the mucronate sepals; fruit very large, black. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 494; DC. 

 prodr.2. p. 564; Torr. <^- Gr.fl. N. Am. l.p.454. R. procumbens, Muhl. cat. R. trivialis, 

 Pursh,fi. 1. p. 347 (not of MicJix.) ; Torr. fl.l.p. 489 ; Bigel. Jl. Bost. p. 200 ; Hook. fl. 

 Bor.-Am, 1. p. 180 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 308. R. flagellaris, Willd. enum. 1. p. 549 ; 

 DC. I. c. 



Stems 4-8 feet long, slender, often several from the same root, which sometimes ascend 

 a foot or more, and then trail along the ground in difTerent directions, shooting up at intervals 

 leafy tufts or branches 2-6 inches high. Leaflets 1-2 inches long ; lateral ones sessile ; 

 terminal one on a. distinct footstalk. Flowers few (sometimes solitary), in a loose leafy raceme 

 or corymb, terminating the short branches, nearly as large as those of R. villosus. Fruit 

 oblong or roundish, often three-fourths of an inch in diameter, very juicy and sweet when 

 mature. 



Rocky barren fields ; common. Fl. May. Fr. July August. 



This species much resembles the smoother and prostrate variety of R. villosus, so that they 

 cannot easily be distinguished. The fruit ripens earlier, and is usually larger and sweeter 

 than in the latter. 



