132 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



and suberectus, plicatus, and the white form of R. nitidus, on the 

 other. 



Now I have found in woods at Lingfield R. suberectus, and also 

 a Rubus of similar tall, straggling growth, &c, but with leaves, 

 stem, and prickles like those of fissus, and still more like those of 

 corylifolius, and suggesting very strongly (to my mind) hybridism 

 between suberectus and corylifolius. The close resemblance between 

 the leaves, stem, and prickles of fissus and corylifolius will be seen 

 on comparing Mr. Rogers's descriptions of them. If my plant is 

 such a hybrid, of course it obscures the distinction between sub- 

 erectus and fissus ; if it is not, then those two can hardly be distinct. 

 Testimony in favour of the former alternative is, I think, furnished 

 by the fact that this plant in the same woods is very variable ; in 

 some cases resembling suberectus much more than fissus \ in others, 

 plicatus or hamulosus ; and is indistinguishable from specimens of 

 JR. sulcatus in the national collections. But it is always tall, 

 straggling, and large-leaved. 



M. Sudre has recently sent to the British Museum specimens 

 of the same plant, which he calls sulcatiformis f and thinks is really 

 suberectue x casius. Is fissus distinct from it ? 



R. sulcatus Vest, appears to me an ill-defined species. I have 

 found it, I believe, on the border of a wood in the neighbourhood 

 of fissus or suberectus, of either of which it might well be a luxuriant 

 straggling form, such as is found of other Rubi when growing in 

 deep shade and on rich soil. One specimen, indistinguishable by 

 me from one in the "Type Set," was referred by Mr. Rogers to R. 

 plicatus Bertramii. The probable explanation seems to me to be 

 that any of the three— -fissus, suberectus, or plicatus— m&y assume 

 the characters of sulcatus under somewhat exceptional, but similar, 

 circumstances. It may be found more or less like and indistin- 

 guishable from any one of them. From that fact, and from speci- 

 mens I have gathered, I infer that i?. sulcatus has been artificially 

 formed out of white Suberecti whose axes have been spun out and 

 their leaves enlarged by growth in damp shady situations among 

 other shrubs. 



R. plicatus Weihe & Nees is found on open spaces near Tun- 

 bridge Wells. There are two well-marked varieties of it, between 

 the first flowering of which there is an interval of about a fortnight. 

 The smaller, var. hemistemon (P. J. M.), has a less hairy panicle 

 and calyx, much shorter anthers and shorter petals, sepals less 

 reflexed, the leaves on the panicle less pointed, and fewer prickles 

 there. The bracts, too, are smaller and undivided. It is much 

 smaller, grows more erect, less among other bushes, but more in 

 open ground, unsupported, and in large groups. It flowers much 

 more profusely, and has more numerous panicles arranged alter- 

 nately along the stem. The fruit in cool, wet summers is apt not to 

 turn black. The other form (var. Bertramii G. Braun) is equally 

 common, and often grows close to the small one. Intermediate 

 forms may occasionally be found. But I will venture to say that 

 these two varieties are more different and distinct than are many 



