BRITISH ROSES OF THE MOLLIS-TOMENTOSA GROUP 201 



f3. mollis: M surculis strictissimis, sepalis sub-simplicibus." 



y. re&inosa: "pumila, caesia, foliis angustis, floribus ruber- 



rimis." 



R. scabriuscula is placed as a variety under (a.). R. fwtida Bat. 

 [sic] is noticed as a "weak variety with leaves smooth above." On 

 f3> mollis there is nothing needing comment. Of y. resinosa, which 

 is quoted ouly from the South of Ireland, the following description 

 is taken from the original specimen in Lindley's herbarium (Camb. 

 Bot. Mus.), marked in Lindley's own writing, " /3. [sic] resinosa 

 Mon.": — Stem slender, dark-coloured, flexuose; thorns long, 

 slender, straight; leaflets 3-5, small, narrow oval to narrow oblong 

 from a cuneate base, hairy on both sides, the under surface very 

 hairy, eglandular, with prominent veins ; petiole glandular, not 

 aciculate. Flowers mostly single, small, petals deep rose ; peduncle 

 slender, aciculate ; calyx-tube small, narrowly ovate-ellipsoid, 

 slightly aciculate. Sepals lanceolate, nearly simple, elongate-appen- 

 diculate, densely glandular-aciculate. Plant too young to admit of 

 ascertaining direction or persistence of sepals. 



It will be seen that Lindley's own description, quoted above, is 

 excellent for this specimen so far as it goes. 



The presumption arising from the single specimen before me is 

 that we have here to deal with a plant deserving the attention of 

 British botanists, abundantly distinct from R. villosa d. suberecta 

 Woods, with which it has been identified by Deseglise(see Journ. Bot. 

 1867, 45), and meriting specific rank should it be rediscovered in 

 Ireland or elsewhere. The name given by Lindley being forestalled 

 by jR. resinosa Lejeune (Fl. Spa. p. 96 (1811)) is not available; 

 under these circumstances I would propose the name R. oblita as 



appropriate. 



In the arrangement and in the Key this plant would probably 

 fall under the Molles, and would have its natural position next 

 after R. sub-mollis. 



Smith (Eng. Flor. ii. 381 (1824) ) divides the group into 1. R. 

 villosa = mollis Sm. Eng. Bot. with the characters, "Fruit globose, 

 somewhat depressed, partly bristly ; calyx slightly compound ; 

 leaflets rounded, bluntish, all over downy ; prickles nearly straight." 

 2. R. tomentosa: "Fruit elliptic; calyx copiously pinnate ; leaves 

 ovate acute, ± downy, both surfaces usually hoary, the under ± 

 glandular/' 8. R. subglobosa: " Fruit globose ; flowers in clusters, 

 1-9 ; leaves rather broad, softly downy." 



He admits under 2 only a single variety, scabriuscula, giving as 

 characters the greener, more harsh leaves, nearly smooth except on 

 the veins of the under surface. 



No use is made by Smith of the direction, duration, or curvature 

 of the sepals, nor of the gland- variation of the leaves, in classifi- 

 cation, since these points would have introduced an amount of sub- 

 division no doubt inadvisable at Smith's date. In accordance with 

 this, the sheet in Smith's herbarium marked M R. tomentosa Flor. 

 Brit." consists of four plants : (1) with oval eglandular leaves, 

 hairy below, curved thorns, and apparently reflexed sepals (type 

 tomentosa) ; (2) with greener glandular leaves (probably scabri* 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 45. [May, 1907.] q 



