210 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES VIII.— ROSA RUBIGINOSA. Lim^. 



Plate CCCCLXVIII. 

 £a^, in Nat. 1864, p. 60. 



Prickles numerous, large, curved, rather unequal, intermingled 

 with aciculi, and occasionally a few gland-tipped setae. Leaflets 

 oval or roundish, doubly serrate, bright green, glabrous or sub- 

 glabrous above, pale green hairy on the veins and thickly covered 

 with sticky fragrant glands beneath. Pedicels short, with oval 

 bracts, usually with aciculi and gland-tipped aciculi. Styles 

 sparingly hairy. Pruit obovate-globose, rarely ovoid, scarlet 

 when ripe. Sepals sub-persistent, leaf-pointed, usually pinnatifid, 

 with numerous aciculi and gland-tipped setae on the back. 



In hedges, bushy places, and sandy sea-shores. Rather 

 sparingly distributed from Cornwall, Devon, Hants, and Kent, to 

 Aberdeen and Moray, though very probably not native in many 

 of its stations. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Shrub. Summer. 



An erect bush, from 2 to 4 feet high, with rather short compact 

 branches. Leaflets small, somewhat shining above, veiy fragrant. 

 Larger prickles sometimes ^ inch long, and much curved, smaller 

 ones slender and nearly straight. Flowers about 1:^ inch in diameter, 

 rose-colour. Pruit ^ to f inch in diameter, not ripening till 

 October, by which time the sepals have generally fallen. 



A plant found by Mr. Baker at Swaledale, Yorkshire, has the 

 calyx-tube ovoid-urceolate, and the glands on the under side of the 

 leaves less numerous, thus showing an approach to R. micrantha. 



Common Sweetbriar, Eglantine. 



French, Rosier d, Feuilles odorantes. German, Weinrose. 



Who does not know the Sweetbriar of our hedges, with its pretty pink roses and 

 bright red fruits t It is prized alike in wild bouquets, in village gardens, and in the 

 parterres of the wealthy. Poets have sung its praises, and in spite of its thorny stems, 

 it is gathered for its sweet-smelling leaves. It bears clipping well, and makes a good 

 hedge ; but Sir Walter Scott deprecates this practice, and says : — 



" Cherish the tulip, prune the vine. 

 But freely let the woodbine grow, 

 And leave untrimm'd the eglantine." 



Burns, the poet of nature, sings of the Sweetbriar in strains which, while writing of 

 it, we cannot but quote : — 



"O bonnie was yon rosy brier. 



That blooms sae far frae haunt o' men, 



