428 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
tapering spire of purple flowers. The old stems are smooth and 
of a dark bronze color. The recent stems aud every other part 
of the plant but the upper surface of the leaves. ure covered with 
a thick, close down, of a light rust color, varying. on the lower 
surface of the leaves, to white. "The leaves are very thick, 
crowded, on very short, rather stout petioles, elliptic or oval, 
somewhat obtuse, coarsely and unequally serrate. The lower 
part of the compound panicle is made up of partial ones from 
the axils of the leaves. Flowering begins at the top, where the 
flowers are faded before those on the lower branches begin to 
expand. Notwithstanding this defect, the plant possesses con- 
siderable beauty. The 1:oots are large and running. Flower- 
ing from July to September. 
This plant has valuable astringent qualities, and is employed 
as a tonic in dysentery and other disorders of the system, par- 
ticularly in those incident to females. 
Both of these species are deserving of cultivation for their 
beauty, their fowers coming on as the spring flowers are pass- 
ing, and continuing into the autumn. Cultivation improves 
them; the dead stems of the previous year deforming, and the 
roots impeding the growth of the flonrishing stocks. 
2. THE BRAMBLE TRIBE, DRYA‘DE, in which the fruits are seed- 
like little nuts, or sometimes little drupes, and, when numerous, crowded on 
a conical or rounded receptacle,—cuntains, besides the Blackberry and Rasp- 
berry,—Cinquefuil, Agrimony, the Strawberry and others. 
The BRAMBLES. RUBUS. The various species of the 
bramble and of the rose have been described in Prof. Dewey’s 
Report on the Herbaceous Plants, and [ should not mention them, 
but that this report may fall into the hands of some persons who 
have not seen the other, and, as these plants are half ligneous, 
it might seem incomplete without some notice of them. 
The Ftowsrine Raspzerry, &. odordtus, is a low shrub, orna- 
menting the sides of roads and paths among mountains and in 
moist glens, in most parts of the State, and giving a charm to 
many a solitary spot by its large, rose-like flowers. The old 
stalk is dry and scaly; the recent shoots and flower branches 
green below, reddish above, with a covering of purple, gland- 
