Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/395

 RUBUS ADSCITUS AND R. MUTABILIS. STi?

to ^ or -i- of its length, oval, nnrrowod and nearly entire at the base, nar- rowly acuminate ; lateral leaflets shortly stalked, of the same shape, oblique, dilated or lobed on the outer side, much resembling those of the stem in general appearance, but more hairy al)Ove, those at the top of the branch sometimes white-felted beneath. Panicle pyramidal, flexnose, com- pound, diffuse, leafy, very rough with shining hairs, sliglitly glandular, prickles sliarp, declining or sickle-shapod ; generally with the three many- flowered lower branches separated, springing from the base of 3-nate leaves, which they do not equal ; the two, four, or more succeeding ones from the base of bracts which are at first oval or 3-lobed, then narrower, with long petioles ; the upper branches spreading, three or many-Howered, naked, exceeding the bifid bracteoles. Calyx felted, very sliglilly glan- dular, neither aciculate nor prickly, greyish-green or ashy, with a straight white edging, sepals oval, gradually narrowed into straigiit or foliaceous points, often equal to the petals, refiexed after the fiowering. Petals very pale piuK, oblong, obtuse, jagged or notched at the top, gra(hially narrowed into a claw, hairy, ciliated. Stamens white, exceeding the greenish styles. Young carpels many, glabrous, forming a large lustrous black fruit. The middle of June, July. Damp woods, wooded iiills.

" Obs. This plant is but slightly glandular, and miglit be classed with the Viresceides near R. piletusfdchys. It appears to come very near li. micam, God. and Gr., which is distinguished from it by its prickly calyx, petals contracted into a short claw, and some other characters.

"■lL\\ii R. hicolor, Arrondeau, Bulletin de la Socicte poIymathi(|ue du Morbihan, annee 1862; tirage a part, p. 20 (non Mull, et (Jhab.), seems very close to R. afhcitns ; it is distinguished from it by its small panicle without large bracts, by its Howers being deep pink within, and by the different shape of the leaves of the stem. Its glabrous carpels separate it from R. riicemosns, and its narrowly acuminate sepals from R. atrocanlis ; its small flowers, of a bright pink within, distinguish it from these three species."

The above description does so well for the Plymouth plant, aiireeing with it even as to the colour of the different parts of the flower, that [ feel it to be quite unnecessary to draw up another from local examples. Moreover, the fine French specimens of R. adscitns in Mr. Baker's Iku*- barium, from M. Genevier iiimsclf, have enabled me to carefully compare the two plants, and I without hesitation assert their identity.

A. reference to " British Rubi" shows that Prol'essor Babinuton con- siders R. adacUun, Genev., and R. c/c-ras/ts, Midi., the same, placing both, under the latter of these names, as a variety of R. viUicaidis. He, iiowever, expresses a (h)ubt as to the correctn(!ss of this arrangcnumt on the ground of the possibility of R. dcrasus being a distinct species IVom ll.viUicnidis. Judging from the s|)ecimen of R. derdaiiH, Mull., fide Genevier, in Mr, Baker's herbarium, I do not consider it and R. ndscitiifs the same, and a note by Mr. Warren, placed with the former, confirms me in this view, as it says " near Bellitrdi." ,

The most nuu-ked features of R. adscU/is are its narrow, sharp, nearly straight prickles, its broadly oval, irregularly and de(ply cut leaves ; its long, flexuose flowering shoots ; its broad, often cylindrical, panicle, with very blunt end, and long brandies, each dividing near the toj), at a con- siderable distance from the rachis, and having its terminal ilower-stalk shorter than the lateral ones. The long, narrow points of the sepals,

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