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R O S A fpinofiflima.
Burnet Rofe.
I C O S A N D R I A Polygynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. urn-fhaped, flefhy, contrafted at
the orifice, terminating in 5 fegments. Petals 5*
Seeds feveral, briftly, fixed to the infide of the
calyx.
Spec. Char. Fruit globofe, fmooth as well as the
flower-ftalks. Stem clothed with very numerous
ftraight llender fpines. Leaflets fmooth and round.
Syn. Rofa fpinofiflima. Linn. Sp. PL 705. HudJ.Fl.
An. 218. With. Bot. Arr. §22. Light/. FI. Sc.
260. FI. Dan. t. 398.
R. pimpinellifolia. Lim.Syft. Nat.ed. 10.1062.
R. pumila fpinofiflima, foliis Pimpinella^ glabris,
flore albo. Rail Syn. 455.
R O S E S , the delight of gardeners, of poets, in fhort. of
all who have ever confidered any plant as an object of admiration,
and which compofe perhaps the molt elegant genus on the
whole that we know, are by no means eafily intelligible to a
botanift. Their beautiful forms, fo delicately varied, are yet
fo nearly allied, that the line of fpecific difcrimination can
fcarcely be accurately drawn. This fpecies, indeed, is one of
the moft diftinft; yet even this has been defcribed twice by
our great matter. It appears from his herbarium, that his R.
pimpinellifolia is exactly (as Haller believed) the fame plant,
not even a variety, as his original fpinofiflima; of which, not
happening to have it before him when he wrote the 10th
edition of Sy/. Nature, he forgot the appearance.
It occurs with us in the borders of fields on a gravelly or fandy
foil, flowering in July. The butties are about 2 feet high,
much branched, and may be known by the very numerous
needle-like prickles, abundant on the young branches, but
which often difappear from the old ones. The leaflets are about
9, round, fmooth, ferrated, very like the leaves of burnet
(Poterium Sanguiforba); their common ftalk is fometimes
prickly, and the flower-ftalk more rarely fo. Petals cream-
coloured, yellow at the bafe, delicately fragrant, fometimes (but
rarely) ftriped with red. Fruit globofe, deep red, black when
quite ripe, fmooth, though Haller defcribes it as fpinous.
FI. Dan. t. 398. is this plant, and not R. arvenfis;