Tas, 6492. 
RIBES tacustre. 
Native of North America, 
Nat. Ord. SaxrrraGEm.—Tribe RipesiEs. 
Genus Riess, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. i. p. 654.) 
Riss (Grossularia) Jacustre ; ramulis longe et crebre setosis spinosisque, spinis 
rectis gracilibus subaxillaribus fasciculatis elongatis, foliis gracile petiolatis 
cordato-rotundatis palmatim 3-5-lobatis y. -partitis, lobis segmentisve lobulatis 
et crenato-dentatis glaberrimis membranaceis, racemis laxis pendulis gracilibus 
pedicellisque glanduloso-pilosis multifloris, floribus parvis, calyce rotato obtuse 
5-lobo, petalis cuneatis calyce brevioribus, staminibus xquilongis, stylo glabro 
2-3-fido, bacca parva hispida. ; 
R. lacustre, Poir. Suppl. vol. ii. p. 856; DC. Prod. vol. iii. p. 478; Torr. et Gr. 
Fl. N. Am. vol. i. p. 548; A. Gray, Bot. N. U. States, ed. v. p.165; Lodd. 
Bot. Cab. t. 884; Guimp. Otto, et Hayne, Holzgew, t. 136. 
R. oxyacanthoides, Miche. Fl. Bor. Am. vol. i. p.111. — 
R. echinatum, Douwgl. in Lindl. Bot. Reg. sub. t. 1349. 
The “swamp Gooseberry” of the United States of 
America inhabits cold wet situations, especially the banks 
of mountain rivers across the whole continent, from the 
Arctic Circle in Canada to Sitka and British Columbia, and 
from New England to Northern California, retaining its 
habits and characters in more northern situations and 
throughout the Eastern States, but becoming less bristly 
and more spiny in California, where, too, the leaves are 
pubescent. Though unattractive in point of inflorescence, 
its beautiful green delicate foliage and the purplish-brown 
branches render it a desirable shrub for cultivation. The 
_ fruit, which is always small, seems to vary in quality. Asa 
Gray describes it as “unpleasant” in New England; 
Lindley (under R. echinatum) says, on Douglas’s authority, 
“berries black, pleasant ;”” Sereno Watson describes the 
fruit of the Californian variety as “acid, intermediate be- 
tween a gooseberry and a currant;” the colour of the berry, 
too, is variously described as dark-brown, red, amber, and 
-purplish-black. : 
Though introduced so long ago as 1812, according to 
May Ist, 1880. . 
