Welsh l?ot. p. 51. — Kelli. FI. Cant. (3rded.) p. 203. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 160. — 
Grev. FI. Edin. p. 115. — FI. Devon, pp. 87 fit 172. — Johnston’s FI. Berw. v. i. p. 
114. — Winch’s FI. of Northumh. and Duvh. p. 34. — Don’s Gen. Syst. of Card, and 
Bot. v. ii. p. 534. — Loud. Arb. et Frutie. Brit. p. 742. — Walker’s FI. of Oxf. p. 
142. — Bah. FI. Bath. p. 15. — Dick. FI. Abred. p. 40. — Luxf. lteig. FI. p. 44. — 
Cow. FI. Guide, p. 45. — Mack. Catal. FI. of Irel. p. 49. ; FI. llibern. pi. 89. — 
Rubus abruptus , Lindl. Syn. (1st ed.) p. 92. — R. discolor, ibid. p. 93. — Rubus 
major, fructo nigro, Ray’s Syn. p. 467. 
Localities. — In hedges, thickets, and woods ; common. 
Shrub. — Flowers in July and August. 
Stems shrubby, many feet long, tough and woody, biennial, if 
not perennial, in general strongly angular, with intermediate fur- 
rows ; pale green, often glaucous, and mostly hairy when young ; 
when older, deep purple, with a grey or bluish tinge from the 
appressed persistent remains of the pubescence. Prickles numer- 
ous, strong, straightish, or recurved, on the angles only of the stem 
and branches, and on the petioles, and occasionally on the panicle. 
Leaves digitate ; leaflets mostly 5, but occasionally only 3, espe- 
cially on the flowering branches, firm and durable, almost ever- 
green, varying in size and shape, being sometimes almost round 
with an abrupt point, but mostly inversely egg-shaped, or some- 
what wedge-shaped, with the edges and point remarkably curved 
downwards ; all on considerable partial stalks, that of the terminal 
one much the longest, the lateral pairs often but imperfectly di- 
vided ; upper side even, dark green, mostly but not always naked ; 
under side, excepting on the lower leaves of the flowering branches, 
usually quite white. Stipulas bristle-shaped, hairy, in pairs upon 
each petiole near the base. Panicle upright, long, narrow, and 
downy, without glandular hairs. Bracteas solitary, strap-spear- 
shaped, white and hoary. Flowers upright and handsome. Calyx 
woolly all over, destitute of prickles and of glandular hairs ; its 
segments short, rarely acuminate, reflexed in the flower as well as 
in fruit. Petals of a delicate pink, rarely if ever white. Stamens 
red. Fruit nearly globular, black, (sometimes, it is said, white,) 
composed of many rather small, closely packed, somewhat de- 
pressed, single-seeded, juicy drupes or grains, of a sweet but 
mawkish flavour, ripening late in Autumn. 
This species is considered as being more common in English hedges than any 
of the other brambles, and also as attaining a greater size. The fruit is said to 
be astringent ; but it has been eaten by children, in every country where the 
plant grows wild, since the time of Pliny. It has also been used, both in 
Prance and England, to produce a subacid drink; an inferior description of 
wine ; and, by fermentation and distillation, a strong spirit. It is also used for 
making a rob, or jam, which is considered good for sore throats. The green 
twigs will dye wool and silk black. Silk-worms will sometimes feed upon the 
leaves in defect of those of the mulberry. The long tough slfoots aie used by 
thatchers, straw-hive, and mat-makers, to bind their other materials together ; 
“ and in times of better feeling, when the disgusting traffic of the body-snatcher 
was an unheard-of enormity, they were considered a sufficient security for bind- 
ing the sod over rustic graves; from which even to have gathered a flower, 
planted by the hand of affection, would have been deemed a profanation. ’ 
( W lTUEir ing). See Sm. Engl. El. ; Hook, llr it, FI, ; &c Loud. Arb, et Fr Ur it. 
A curious little fungus, Ategma bulbosum. Hook. Brit. FI. v. ii. pt. ii. p. 358 ; 
Puccinia Uubi, Baxt. St. Crypt. Oxon. n. 33. ; is parasitical on lire under side 
of the leaves of this species of Bramble about Oxfoid, in small black clusters. 
