Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/359

 ON RUBUS RAMOSUS. 331

well-marked English Bramble of the Rhainiiifolii group, that some have supposed mig'ht prove identical with it, which has lji;eu named raniosns by the Rev. A. Bloxam, one of the greatest British authorities on Ruhi. ; but which seems never to have been described, although common over a large tract of country around Plymouth.

I shall, in the first phice, give a description of it, drawn up from a series of specimens in my own herbarium, collected in Devon and Cornwall; then say in what respects it differs frm SchUrknuii, as represented in Mr. Baker's herbarium, as well as from rhnmnifulins, VV. and N. ; and aft(!rwards add a list of the localities where I have seen it growing. The following is the description : —

Stem erect-arcuate, rooting at the end, round or augidar below, more angular towards the top, conspicuously furrowed, often purplish or shining in exposure, quite glabrous, or with very few inconspicuous silky hairs, no aciculi or setye. ' Prickles scattered, confined to the angles, from a long compressed base, strong, sharp, patent or slightly declining. Leaves 5-nate, or here and there 3-nate and lobed. Leaflets often con- spicuously convex above, not overlapping one another, shining, with a few scattered silky hairs, moderately pilose below, and sometimes white-felted also, coarfely serrate; terminal leaflet with a stalk at least one-third of its length, ovate or obovate, cuspidate, sometimes slightly cordate at the base ; intermediate leaflets conspicuously stalked, obovate with narrow base, shortly cuspidate ; basal very shortly stalked, narrowly ovate or obovate, with very short point ; in the case of a 3-nate leaf the side leaflets are much lobed and dilated on the outer side ; midribs with a few small hooked prickles ; petioles with slight pubescence ; stipules linear with silky hairs. Flowering shoot angular or furrowed, long, with short, not dense, silky hairs. Prickles few, short, hooked, those on the lower part of the shoot very small. Leaves mostly 3-nate ; terminal leaflet obovate, shortly cuspidate, sometimes slightly cordate at the base; other leaflets ovate, with the outer sides much dilated and often conspicuously dentate or lobed, all irregularly serrate, especially towards the points, slightly pilose above, more so below, the upper ones of the panicle often white-felted also ; veins prominent. Panicle sometimes compound, leafy below, of moderate length, top rounded, often flexuose or with waved rachis below, branches long with from 5 to 3 flowers near the top of each, two or three lower branches axillary sparingly pilose, the branches covered with ash-coloured felt. Prickles scattered, declining, sharp, very few near the top of the panicle and on the branches. Sepals ovate, with short linear points, rather sparingly pilose on the outside, white- or ashy- felted both within and without, rcflexed. Petals broad, ovate, white or very light pink, nearly entire, sometimes notched at the end, claw very short. Filaments white. Styles dull brownish-pink. Fruit poor, irre- gularly formed, some of the dru|)cs generally proving abortive.

From Sc/dick/imi this plant dirt'ers by being less hairy generally, more especially on the flowering shoots, by having no aciculi or setie, which are apparent both on the barren stem and panicle of the other, by having coarser and less regular serratures to its leaves, and by their points being cuspidate rather than acuminate. Its panicle is more corymbose at the top, its sepals broader, and without glands. Schlicknrui lias the sepals renuirkably narrower, and scattered glands appear at the back. The dissimilarity of the two plants in general appearance is greater than the

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