The older leaflets have an even and coriaceous appearance,
as in R . fruticosus ; but are less rigid, flat, or somewhat
raised at the edges, not, as in that, decurved and arched :
they are also usually o f a paler green on the upper side,
which in both is sometimes hairy, but more generally smooth.
In this, the underside is mostly pale green, with spreading
hairs, rarely white, or even hoary, except in some of the
uppermost leaves. The panicle is usually less attenuated ;
its branches downy and hairy, but. less densely so ; sometimes
almost green. The calyx is less closely recurved,
although bent back both in flower and in fruit. The berry
is more acid, and consists of fewer and rather larger grains.
The leaflets of R . rhamnifolius vary much in shape, but
the middle one is almost always heart-shaped at the base.
The partial stalks of the two lateral pairs are often but imperfectly
separated ; and the upper leaves of the flowering
shoots are ternate. Minute sessile glands, and rarely a few
setae, are found among the down of the panicle-branches
and calyx ; and a few glands are occasionally sprinkled on
the stem. The prickles of the ultimate flower-stalks are
small, straight, and herbaceous. The calyx is generally,
not always, devoid of prickles. The petals are pink or
white, round or obovate, sometimes narrow. The plant
flowers in July and August.
We cannot satisfy ourselves whether the author of the
English Flora is correct or not in joining R. cordifolius of
Weihe and Nees to the present species. The British plant
which induced Mr. Lindley to give R. cordifolius a place in
his Synopsis, is, we think, certainly not distinct. We know
not why R . fruticosus of DeCandolle is referred to R . rhamnifolius
: the description in the Flore Française agrees better
with our R . fruticosus. We regard R . discolor of Weihe
and Nees, and R . abruptus of Lindley, as slight varieties
of R . fruticosus, to which species we suspect the American
R . cuneifolius of Pursh also to belong.
The mode in which the Brambles increase by the rooting
of the ends of the stems, and the separation of the young
plants by the destruction in winter of the unripened part, is
well explained in the Introduction to the Rubi Germanici.
But we doubt whether the surviving part of the stem, which
in the second summer bears flowering shoots, so constantly
as is there intimated perishes down to the root at the end of
that season.—W. B.