380 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [NOVEMBER 
and undoubtedly also a facility in hybridizing which is, perhaps, not 
exceeded in any of our flora. In speaking of BLANCHARD’S species 
he remarks that ‘‘probably 60 per cent of these are synonyms, 
while the remainder, with possibly a few exceptions, appear to 
disclose themselves as scarcely doubtful hybrids.” In his mind there 
are about 11 species of Eubatus which alone can be considered valid, 
while the others are hybrids. He also gives a list of their names as — 
he believes they should appear. Britton, in the new edition of the 
Illustrated flora, recognizes but 10 species, none of BLANCHARD’S 
naming being mentioned even as synonyms. More recently 
RYDBERG in his monograph of Rubus has allowed 27 of the Eu- 
batus group for the northeastern United States, including 7 of 
BLANCHARD’S naming and 4 of BAILEy’s. Of the remaining 30 and 
more of BLANCHARD’s names, g are disposed of as synonyms and 
24 as hybrids. 
BRAINERD (33) in his recent article upon Rubus, which he has 
published after years of study and from which I have drawn many 
of my historical data, remarks: ‘“‘No mere herbarium botanist is 
qualified to disentangle the perplexing intricacies of a group of 
plants like Rubus. The days of random guessing at parents are 
past or should be.” He then states what to him are the proper 
methods of procedure in determining a true species, and gives a 
list of 9 ‘‘probable good species” in Vermont. 
The phenomenon of variability in Rubus appears not to be 
confined to American species, but to be characteristic of the genus 
everywhere. HOoKER in his Flora of the British Isles names 41 
forms as species, while GARKE’s Flora von Deutschland contains 
more than 60 species. FockE (5) makes the following interesting 
statement: 
Die Gattung Rubus ist ungemein formenreich und zerfallt i in eine Anzahl 
inige Gruppen bestehen 
aus aiisserst zahlreichen nahe verwandten Racen, welche die Grenzen zwischen 
den durch wesentliche Charactere gescheidene Arten oft véllig vermischen. 
Auch viele sonst gut umgrenzte Arten sehr formenreich natiirliche Hybride 
scheinen innerhalb vieler Artengruppen leicht zu entstehen, wahrscheinlich 
gehen haufig aus ihnen neue constante Racen hervor. 
During the summer of 1915 I was able to obtain from the 
Harvard Botanical Garden and from the Arnold Arboretum buds 
