the common bramble, or blackberry. 149 
THE COMMON BRAMBLE, OR BLACKBERRY. 
RUBUS fructicosus. 
“ Iii shady lanes the children stray 
Looking for blackberries through the day, 
Those berries of such old renown ! ” 
In a work that may, perhaps, lay claim to something of 
an ornamental character, it may be matter of wonder 
that this commonest of all common plants should be ad¬ 
mitted among the chosen specimens ; but, as in making 
the selection, I have had throughout an eye to the “moral 
of flowersf this despised and mal-treated shrub seems by 
no means unworthy of the station it occupies. Some¬ 
thing, too, of early reminiscence may predispose one in its 
favour. Who does not remember the time when “ on a 
sunshine holyday ” a blackberry gathering was the highest 
treat, and when its insipid fruit was eaten with a relish 
fai beyond that which the rarest hot-house novelty can 
afford in riper years ? Who does not remember, also, 
the shrinking awe with which he passed by the tempting 
