chap. xlu. rqsackje. kuVts. 733 



Sect. III. Potenti'lle-hs. 

 Genus IX. 



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K h hJ 1 1 II ! 



.RITBUS Z>. The Bramble. Liw. &/s/. Icosandria Polygyria. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 364. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 556. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 529. 



Synonymes. Ronce, Framboisier, Fr. ; Himbeere, Brombeerstrauch, Ger. 



Derivation. From rub, red in Celtic ; in reference to the colour of the fruit in some of the species. 



Description. Deciduous subligneous shrubs, for the most part prostrate ; 

 with prickly stems, and digitate, pinnate, or lobed, leaves ; but a few of them 

 growing upright. The fruit of all of them is edible. Some of them, such as 

 R. fruticosus, may be considered as sub-evergreen, as they retain the greater 

 part of their leaves in a green state through the winter. All the kinds 

 popularly called brambles may be considered as gigantic strawberry plants. 

 The following excellent technical description is from Dr. Hooker's British 

 Flora ; and, though drawn up with a view to the British species, yet, as in 

 these are included the raspberry, or upright-growing species, as well as the 

 common brambles, it applies equally well to the whole genus. 



" Shrub-like plants, or herbs, with perennial roots. The herbaceous species 

 offer nothing very peculiar. In some species of the shrubs the stem is 

 upright, or merely curved at the top ; but, in the greater number, it is either 

 prostrate, or, as is more generally the case, assurgent, arched, and decurved ; 

 and the ends of the shoot, and of the side branches, if it produce any, unless 

 prevented by circumstances from reaching the ground, take root in the latter 

 part of the year. In the winter the shoot is partially destroyed, the part 

 next to the original root surviving, to produce flowering branches during the 

 ensuing summer, and usually dying after the fruit has been perfected ; young 

 shoots, meanwhile, springing up by its side. The rooted ends also become dis- 

 tinct plants, at various distances from the parent root ; often many yards. 

 This mode of growth adds much to the difficulties in the discrimination of the 

 species ; since an acquaintance with both the leafy shoot, and the floriferous 

 stem formed in the second year from its remains, is necessary. The best 

 characters are found in the figure, the arms, and the leaves of the former. 

 The leaves in all the British species of this division are, occasionally at least, 

 quinate; and, with one exception, digitate, or somewhat pedate, from a partial 

 junction of the stalks of the two lateral pairs of leaflets; the margins serrated, 

 for the most part unequally and irregularly ; the prickles on the leaf-stalks more 

 curved than those on the stem. In some species the inflorescence \s remarkable ; 

 but, in general, the panicle varies so much as to afford no good distinction. Nor 

 can the arms of the calyx, nor the form of its segments, be depended on. The 

 petals in all are delicate and crumpled, and, in several species, very considerable 

 in size and width. There are some differences in the fruit, but they are 

 rarely discriminative. In examining the figure of the leaves, the central 

 leaflet is to be regarded : the lateral ones are always smaller, and of a nar- 

 rower proportion. In several species, the leaves occasionally survive a mild 

 winter, and are found the next season subtending flowering branches. The 

 leaves of these branches are of less determinate figure ; the number of their 

 leaflets is reduced as they approach the inflorescence, and their place is sup- 

 plied in the upper part of the panicle by, first trifid, and then simple, bracteas, 

 formed by the coalescence of the stipules. These last are usually long and 

 narrow, entire, or sometimes toothed and jagged, and issue from the petiole, 

 for the most part a little above its base. They afford no distinguishing cha- 

 racters. No less than 48 supposed species of the genus are described and 

 figured in the elaborate Rnbi Germanici of Weihe and Nees von Esenbeck. 

 (Borrer, in Hook. Br. Fl,,p. 243.) 



