ROSACEiE. 1(J3 



rai(>ly and only accidentally pinnate with 2 to 3 pairs of leaflets 

 and an odd one ; leailets firm, green or white helow, variable in 

 shape, serrated. Basal portion of the stipules adnate, Tlowcrs 

 numerous, in small cymes combined into panicles. Petals oval- 

 oblong, as broad as or broader than the sepals, spreading. Fruit 

 not separating from the receptacle, consisting of usually numerous 

 juicy cohering drupes with a rather firm skin, shining black when 

 ripe, more rarely dull lurid-red, or of a few drupes with a tliinuer 

 skin and a glaucous bloom on the surface. 



Common Bramble, Blackberry. 



French, Ronce Commune. German, VerschiedenfavMge Brombeere. 



In Worcestershire the Brambles are known by the name of "lawyers;" why we 

 can scarcely say ; but we can imagine that those who have been unfortunate enough 

 to come within the giasj) of the law may mentally experience some of the pricking and 

 tearing consequent on an incautious aiijn-oach to a Bramble-bush. Who, however, has 

 not, in his day, been a Blackberry-gatherer, and braved the perils of scratched hands 



ject. I have therefore followed his division of the Brambles, only calling his species 

 sub-species, although I must confess that it appears to me in some cases arbitrary to stop 

 where he does, for his species contain, in several cases, various groups of forms as distinct 

 from each other as his species themselves. The limits of the different groups can never 

 1)6 satisfactorily settled until they have been extensively raised from seed, in order to 

 observe if any of the forms actually ])roduce some of the others within a limited period 

 of time. I understand that the experiment is being tried in the Cambridge Botanical 

 Gai'deu under the auspices of Professor Babington, and the results will no doubt appear 

 in his anxiously-expected " Monograph of the British llubi." 



Considering the close i-esemblance of the sub-species, and the impossibility of 

 representing their distinctive characters in plates ot the size of those in " English 

 Botany," it has been thought that it would add needlessly to the expense of the work 

 to figure each of the forms mentioned in the text. The plates of the original work and 

 supplement are retained in the present edition, and two others added, which were 

 required in order that each of the sections into which they are divided by Professor 

 Babington might be repre.sented. 



My warmest thanks are due to the Eev. A. Bloxam (whose knowledge of this 

 diflicult genus is second only to Professor Babingtou's) for the assistance he has kindly 

 rendered me, without which I could not have relied on the nomenclature of my speci- 

 mens. Mr. Bloxam has not only named my very numerous specimens of Brambles, 

 and sent me exami)les of most of those which were absent from my herbarium, bat has 

 also supplied me with numerous notes upon the more obscure forms. 



For Professor Babingtou's latest views on the genus I have trusted to the large 

 collection of Rubi of the late Mr. Borrer, in the Kew Herbarium, which have been 

 named by Professor Babington. When these appear to differ from the sj)ecies of the 

 " 31auual " (ed. v.), I have, however, still followed the latter as the latest publlslced 

 authority. 



