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The beauty of the English wild rose is such that even the most unscientific wanderer through our country lanes instinctively gathers, examines, (doubtless superficially,) and naturally loves it. But a wild rose is a dog rose to the casual observer and nothing more. If I were to tell these non-botanical collectors into how many species, varieties, and forms, critical botanists have split up the genus, and that one of my greatest pleasures has been that of hunting up these forms, they would probably think me in a fair way for a lunatic asylum. Unattractive as such studies must naturally be to the uninitiated, to me they have a charm I cannot express, and I would any day cheerfully walk many miles to see a rare rose or & rare bramble.

When I first commenced the study of the family, I had only the fifth edition of Babington's Manual as a text hook, which, excellent us it is in other points, scarcely seemed satisfactory in its treatment of this genus; hence if was that I bailed with pleasure the appearance of Mr. J. G. Baker's valuable monograph of the genus Rosa, published in Vol. XI. of the "Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 1869," (page 197.) Being thus provided with a good and complete guide, I recommenced the study of the roses of Warwickshire.

The sandy soils and neglected hedges of many parts of the county seem to favour both the growth and variability of the wild rose, and I soon found abundant materials for study. But before commencing to study this difficult genus in the field I obtained from the Rev. A. Bloxam a fairly complete fasciculus of the British roses, and during the winter of 1869–70 I carefully examined these, comparing each with the descriptions given in Mr. Baker's monograph. The knowledge thus obtained has served me much in my subsequent work, During the years that have since elapsed I have visited and collected specimens in nearly every available Warwickshire district, and the specimens collected have all been carefully compared with my type specimens and the descriptions in the monograph.

Many of the districts south of Warwick I lave visited in company with my friend, Mr. H. Bromwich, an excellent botanist, who has paid special attention to this genus, and has worked with great success most of the country around Warwick. In the neighbourhood of Harboro Magna, near Rugby, I have had the company, guidance, and instruction of that learned and veteran botanist, the Rev. A. Bloxam, who is Rector of the village. In my notes I quote some of Mr. Bloxam’s old stations, near Atherstone, a district worked by him in former days. The following list may, therefore, be considered as the result of the Rev. A. Bloxam's, Mr. H. Bromwich's, and my own observations, extending over many years. It is, I believe, a fairly complete list of the Warwickshire roses.

The nomenclature and classification adopted is that of Mr. Baker's monograph, in which he divides the genus into five primary groups, viz.: 1, Spinosissimæ; 2, Villosæ; 3, Rubiginosæ; 4, Caninæ; and 4, Systylæ.