724 RUBUS. LCLASS XII. ORDER HI. 



soft, and downy, reflexed. Pete/* large, roundish, crisped, spreading. 

 Stamens with slender Jilaments, and ovate anthers. Fruit large, black, 

 sweet, with but little acidity. 



Habitat. — Hedges, woods, and thickets ; common. 



Shrub ; flowering in July and August. 



This species, it is observed by Lindley, is an intermediate form 

 between R. fruticosus and R. corylif alius. 



6. R. fruticosus, Linn. (Fig. 820.) Common Bramble, or BlacTiherry. 

 Stem arched, angular, and furrowed, downy, with straight horizontal 

 or deflexed prickles ; leaves digitate, of five stalked shining obovate 

 coriaceous leaflets, decurved at the edges, white on the under side ; 

 panicle long, narrow, downy. 



English Botany, t. 715. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 400. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 3. vol. i. p. 248. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 95. 



Stem stout, several feet long, arched, spreading, angular, and deeply 

 furrowed, downy when young, often smooth with age, and of a dull 

 deep purple colour, the younger branches of a dull glaucous green. 

 Prickles not very numerous, stout on the angles of the stem, straight, 

 horizontal, or deflexed, of a pinkish colour. Leaves with stout rounded 

 downy footstalks, and as well as the mid-ribs more or less armed with 

 paler hooked prickles. Leaflets five on the stem,, three on the branches, on 

 short footstalks, roundish ovate, obtuse, or acutely pointed, rounded, or 

 somewhat heart-shaped at the base, dark green above, and smooth, or 

 nearly so, beneath paler, those of the stem green, but of the flowering 

 branches white, from the close woolliness, the margins unequally 

 serrated, and rolled back. Stipules linear, lanceolate, downy. Panicle 

 elongated, its branches somewhat divided, downy, and armed with a 

 few slender hooked prickles. Calyx ovate, acute, almost white, with 

 pale close pressed woolliness, acute, rarely with an elongated point, or 

 armed with slender prickles. Petals obovate, or rounded, somewhat 

 crumpled, pink, spreading. Stamens numerous, with slender Jilaments, 

 and as well as the anthers a dark red. Fruit large, globose, black, 

 sweet, with an agreeable flavour. 



Habitat. — Hedges, thickets, &c. ; very common. 



Shrub ; flowering in July and August. 



This is our commonest Bramble, growing in great abundance in the 

 hedges and woods in most parts of the country. Jt is readily known by 

 its angled deep furrowed dark purple stems and glaucous branches. 

 Its shoots extend to many feet in length, and often take root at the 

 ends; they are tough and pliable, and are much used for binding 

 hedges, making straw bee hives, and for fastening the thatch on 

 stacks, &c. The fruit is collected when ripe, and used for various 

 domestic purposes, as puddings, the making of jam, either alone or 

 mixed with other kinds of fruit, or bruised and fermented into wine; 

 but its preparations are not much esteemed from the absence of a 

 sharpness or acidity in their flavour. 



