By Joseph Sabine, jE.^. 



plentifully in the northern than the southern parts of the king- 

 dom. Its general character is a compact, bushy shrub ; low 

 when in a wild state, but in gardens, though it begins to 

 flower when very small, it grows to three and four feet, and 

 even higher, extending widely at the base : some of the varie- 

 ties are however more dwarf than others. The branches are 

 very numerous, thickly covered with aculei of various sizes, 

 some being larger, others smaller, and some like fine hairs 

 or setae ; the larger aculei of the root shoots are frequently 

 recurved, and have a falcate or hooked appearance; the 

 lower parts of the stronger ones are often very much dilated. 

 The leaves, on the greater number of the branches, have, 

 for the most part, three pairs of foliola ; but on the surculi, 

 or strong shoots which arise directly from the roots, they 

 have usually five pairs in the first year. The petioles are 

 almost always smooth, though, occasionally, they produce 

 some scattered hairs ; and a few aculei as well as small 

 glands, are also sometimes found upon them. The foliola 

 are small, elliptical or nearly round, with simple serratures, 

 of a deep and opaque green above, paler underneath, and 

 quite free from pubescence on both sides. The flowers 

 come out singly, in great numbers, along the whole length 

 of the branches, standing erect, and not nodding ;* the 

 peduncles are smooth, though not uniformly so, in wild as 

 well as cultivated specimens, some are covered with seta? ; 

 even the same plant is liable to vary in this particular, and 

 the variation is more considerable in some of the double 



* In some of the double varieties the weight occasioned by the increased 

 number of petals cause, the peduncle to bend, and consequently their fc, 

 are pendulous. 



