Vol. XV, pp. 23-29 March 5, 1902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



RIBES AUREUM AND RIBES LENTUM. 

 BY FREDERICK V. COVILLE. 



Ribes aureum. 



In the year 1814 Frederick Pursh published a description of 

 a yellow-flowered currant from the western United States under 

 the name Ribes aureum. This species, or group of species, 

 constitutes a clearly defined type, confined in its natural range 

 to western North America, which has been treated by most 

 botanists as a subgenus of Ribes named Sy?nphocalyx, and by 

 one author was even made a distinct genus, Chrysobotrya. It 

 was introduced into cultivation in Europe eai'ly in the nine- 

 teenth century, and became a great favorite on account of its 

 golden flowers, with their often deliciously spicy odor, and its 

 handsome amber-colored, wine-colored, or black berries. These 

 cultivated forms have differed considerably and on them have 

 been based several descriptions of supposed new species. Some- 

 of these are known only in cultivation, and seem therefore to 

 be merely horticultural varieties and to have no existence in 

 nature either as species or subspecies. There are, however, 

 two forms occurring wild in the United States which are com- 

 monly distinguished by botanists. In one of these, abundant 

 in the Columbia River valley of Oregon, Washington, and 

 Idaho, the leaves of vigorous shoots have the margins of the 



5— Bioii. Soo. VTASH. vol. XV, 1902. (23) 



