plant. The more divided calyx has been chiefly depended
on, as distinguishing it from its near affinities, R . Doniana,
R.gracilis, and R.involuta. Like the other two, it is much
less closely set with prickles than the last of these, and
grows twice or thrice as tall, attaining, or exceeding, in favourable
situations, the height of eight feet. The leaves
are, in general, but slightly pubescent, and give out the
agreeable turpentine scent common to R . villosa and its
affinities, their underside being sprinkled more or less copiously
with glands. The flowers, which expand in June,
are sometimes of a beautifully varied pink, sometimes white,
often tipped with crimson on the outside. They grow solitary
and in threes; sometimes, but not frequently, in larger
clusters. The fruit is globular, ovate, and urceolate, on the
same bush. Its colour when ripe is deep red.
Whether the falcate shape of the larger prickles of
R . gracilis, and its more simple calyx, sufficiently and permanently
characterize that plant as a species, is very questionable.—
W. B.