802 KEY TO BRITISH RUBX, 





55. R. melanodermis Focke, Journ. Bot. 1890, p. 138. R. melon- 

 o.vtjlon Bab. Journ, Bot. 1887, pp. 21, 22. — St. prostrate, bluntly 

 angular, subglabrous, purplish, or even blackish (the colour extending 

 to prickles, petioles, and margins of young L), the faces striate, 

 rather thickly clothed with subequal glandular bristles, acicles, and 

 stalked glands ; the large prickles strong, rather unequal, slightly 

 declining or subfalcate. L. 3-5-nate. Lis. plicate (especially when 

 young), rather coarsely but hardly doubly serrate, dark green and 

 hairy above, paler with short shining hairs on the veins beneath ; 



term, usually truncate- cuspidate or broadly obovate, with long narrow 



point, cordate or subcordate ; has. not imbricate ; the lateral of the 

 8-nate 1. deeply lobed beneath. Pan. always remarkably narrow f 

 usually short, though with flowering branches to its base, rounded 

 at the end, with many short 2-3-flowered branches above, and 

 several long axillary ones below ; its 3-nate 1. passing into 3-fid and 

 simple bracts ; rachis and ped. densely clothed with felt and 

 whitish hairs hiding the fairly numerous stalked glands, the 

 acicles and declining prickles being usually neither many nor 

 strong. Sep. ovate-attenuate, aciculate and glandular, grey-green 

 with white margins, reflexed in fl. and fr. Pet. oval, distant, 

 pinkish or white. Stam. white or pinkish, only slightly exceeding 

 pinkish styles. Heaths, hedges, and wood-borders. From Mid- 

 Dors, to Mid-Hants, frequent ; locally abundant, and constant in 

 character. 



Easily separated from all allied species by its remarkably dark 

 st., plicate truncate Its., and narrow pan. I have seen nothing 

 that appears to me quite identical from other districts ; but a plant 

 of Rev. A. Ley's, from Buckstane, Glost., is certainly very near this, 

 and so was one sent me by Mr. Briggs, in 1888, from Egg Buck- 

 land, Dev. Indeed, I see nothing to make either of these specifically 

 distinct from R. melanodermis. 



56. R. cognatus N. E. Br. EagL Bot. Suppl. to 3rd ed. (1892), 



p. 101. " R. debilis Boul. ?" Bab. Journ. Bot. 1886, p. 229.— "S*. 

 arcuate, 5-gonous, with fiat sides; prickles small, deflexed from a 

 long compressed base ; aciculi few, slender, unequal ; setae very few, 

 inconspicuous; hairs few or none; 1. 5-nate-pedate ; Its. rather 

 coarsely crenate-dentate, pale green and nearly naked beneath ; term. 

 It. cordate-ovate acuminate; pan. long, leafy, rather narrow, with 

 short axillary racemose branches ; its prickles and aciculi small and 

 slender ; its setae and hairs short, unequal ; sep. lanceolate-acumi- 

 nate, leaf-pointed, patent (?) with fr. ; stam. long, exceeding the 

 styles, incurved; 'pet. white/ " "Roadside between S. Budeaux 

 and Honicknowle, Dev.; near Charles Hill, Tilford, Surr. ; and 

 Linton Wood, Heref." 



I cannot think the plants from these three localities identical. 

 Prof. Babmgton's description seems to suit the Dev. specimens best. 

 I have seen the other two plants growing in good quantity, and find 

 some difficulty in combining them, notwithstanding a considerable 

 resemblance in the glandular glaucous st., and the rather similar 

 white-flowered pan., and pale green 5-nate 1. The Heref. plant has 

 a hairy st., with subequal prickles on the angles, and a good many 



