Page:VCH Surrey 1.djvu/90

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A HISTORY OF SURREY the extent of their bramble ground and for the number of forms first discovered as British within their borders ; but as especially favourable places for the study of the genus the best localities in Britain are perhaps to be found in Surrey in the extensive commons and heaths to the south-west of London near the Kent border, and to the south-west of Guildford towards the Hants and Sussex borders. Fifty-three species and twenty-seven additional sub-species or varieties have already been found in the county ; and, out of these, three species and two subordinate forms had not been known as British until they were observed in Surrey. These are Rubus bolerythros, Focke ; R. Marshall!, Focke & Rogers ; and R. viridis, Kalt. ; with the sub-species or varieties rbombifolius, Weihe, and britannicus, Rogers. Of these R. Mar- shalli and JR. britanntcus were new to science and are still numbered among our endemic brambles, though both have since been found abundantly in several British counties. R. bolerytbros, R. rbombifolius and R. -viridis have also proved to be somewhat widely distributed, though chiefly or wholly in the south of England. Among other Surrey brambles perhaps the most interesting, for their rarity elsewhere or for their special beauty, are R. Bakeri, F. A. Lees ; R. Colemanni, Blox. ; R. leucantbemus, P. J. Muell.(?); R. dnerosus, Rogers ; R. ericetorum, Lefv. ; R. mutabilis, Genev. ; R. bostilis, Muell. & Wirtg. ; and R. cognafus, N. E. Brown. Until recently these were either unknown in Britain or most imperfectly understood ; and for the most part they have become fairly familiar to us chiefly through Surrey specimens. Four of them, Bakeri, Co/emanni, dnerosus and cognatus seem to be endemic. Of many good Surrey localities some of the best are the commons at Wimbledon, Barnes, Tooting and Wandsworth, and Putney Heath near London, and further west the commons and heathy land at Oxshott and round Godalming and Haslemere. In all or nearly all of these the most conspicuous brambles, in addition to some of those mentioned above, are R. plicatus, Wh. & N. ; R. carpinifolius, Wh. & N. ; R. Lind/eianus, Lees ; R. rbamnifolius, Wh. & N. ; R. pulcherrimus, Neum. ; R. argenfatus, P. J. Muell. ; JR. subinermis, Rogers ; R. leucostachys, Schl. ; R. Babingtonii, Bell Salt. ; R. adornatus, P. J. Muell. ; and R. cory/ifotius, Sm. Hence it will be seen that the group best represented in the county is that of the Rbamnifolii. The abundance of R. carpinifolius and (in a less degree) JR. pulcherrimus is especially remarkable, and the comparative rarity of R. rusticanus y R. c&sius, and most of the glandular species. As instances of single localities, Wimbledon Common alone produces 24 species and 3 sub-species, and Putney Heath 16 species and 6 sub- species or varieties ; while the six chief commons to the south-west of London have between them about 50 different brambles in all, and the commons and heathy places between Guildford and the Sussex border seem at least as richly supplied. Perhaps the most marked feature in the Haslemere district is the extraordinary abundance of R. Marshall! and R. rosaceus, Wh. & N. Between Haslemere and Godalming R. fasus, Lindl.; R. nitidus, Wh. & 48