Rubus Arcticus. Dwarf Bramble.

Class and Order.

Icosandria Polygynia.

Generic Character.

Cal. 5-fidus. Petala 5. Bacca composita acinis monospermis.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

The Rubus arcticus grows wild in the northern parts of Europe and America, in moist, sandy, and gravelly places. LinnÆus has figured and minutely described it in his Flora Lapponica, out of gratitude, as he expresses himself, for the benefits reaped from it in his Lapland journey, by the nectareous wine of whose berries he was so often recruited when sinking with hunger and fatigue; he observes that the principal people in the north of Sweden make a syrup, a jelly, and a wine, from the berries, which they partly consume themselves, and partly transmit to Stockholm, as a dainty of the most delicious kind; and truly he adds, of all the wild Swedish berries this holds the first place.

Our figure does not correspond altogether with LinnÆus's description, but it is drawn as the plant grew; culture doubtless made it produce more than its usual number of flowering stems and petals.

It grows readily and increases rapidly in bog-earth, on a north border, and flowers in May and June, but very rarely ripens its fruit in Gardens.