420 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



5- (rarely 4-) cleft; at length spreading or reflexed. Petals 

 distinct, small, alternate with the segments of the calyx, and 

 growing from its throat. Stamens alternate with the petals ; 

 anthers turned inwards. Ovary 1-celled, with numerous ovules. 

 Styles 2, (very rarely 3 or 4,) distinct or united. Fruit a 

 berry, crowned with the remains of the flower, 1-celled, many- 

 seeded. Seeds suspended by long threads. Embryo minute, 

 situated in the sharper extremity. Leaves alternate, palmately 

 veined and lobed, without stipules, sometimes sprinkled with 

 resinous dots. Flowers in racemes. — Flora of N. A., I, 544. 

 D C, Prodromus, III, 477. 



There are four species of gooseberry and two of currant found 

 native in Massachusetts, of which the specific characters are , 

 taken, with slight changes, from the N. A. Flora, as I have not 

 been able sufficiently to study and compare the species for my- 

 self. 



Sp. 1. The Prickly Gooseberry. R. cynosbati. L. 



Stems either unarmed or prickly ; sub-axillary spines 1 — 3 ; leaves cordate, 

 roundish, 3 — 5-lobed, more or less pubescent, the lobes cut-serrate ; racemes 

 few-flowered, the pedicels divaricate ; tube of the calyx cylindrical, very broad 

 and short, slightly contracted at the mouth ; the segments reflexed ; stamens 

 and style slightly included; style undivided, hairy at base; fruit prickly or 

 rarely unarmed.— Flora, N. A. 546. Bigelow, 91. D C, III, 479. 



Woods and hill-sides from Hudson's Bay to Kentucky, and 

 west to the Rocky Mountains, and near the sources of the Platte. 

 — Fl. 



Sp. 2. The Common Wild Gooseberry. R. hiriUlwm. Michaux, 



Stems prickly or naked ; sub-axillary spines usually solitary and very short ; 

 leaves roundish, cordate, 3 — 5-lobed, toothed, pubescent beneath; peduncles 

 very short, deflexed, 1 — 3-flowered ; calyx-tube bell-shaped, smooth, hairy at 

 the throat within ; the segments twice the length of the petals, nearly equalling 

 the stamens and 2-cleft hairy style ; fruit smooth. — Flora, N. A., R. triflorum, 

 Bigelow, 90. 



The recent shoots are green, shining, brownish or ashen, 

 afterwards, when older, dark purple, the cuticle peeling off and 

 leaving the stem unarmed. Usually 3 prickles are found at the 

 base of each leaf. 



