192 SYSTKMATIC POMOLOGY 



grows wild, it is safe to say that 1\. rubrum came under cultiva- 

 tion at a later date. 



281. Ribes petraeum described. — This speeies is combined with 

 one oi' the two other red currants described by many botanists. 

 It has, however, good botanical standing, and pomologists find 

 it quite distinct in its fruits which are more acid, darker red, 

 and ripen later. 



3. IRihes petrcpum, Wulfen. Stout upright shrubs attaining a height of 

 7 feet; shoots usually reddish and glabrous; bush larger than in the other 

 two species. Leaves roundish, subcordate, stout, 3-lobed, middle lobe long- 

 est, acute, very dark green, usually puckered or blistered, rugose, 3-4 inches 

 across. Flo^vers in dense racemes, appearing later than those of the other 

 two species, pink or red to claret red; pedicels short; bracts very small; 

 calyx-tube broadly campanulate, "with short, rounded, ciliate sepals; petals 

 nearly half as long as sepals, with a callosity below the base. 



Several botanical varieties are distinguished from which 

 garden varieties, it is generally agreed, come ; one of which, var. 

 buUatum, crossed with R. rubrum, produced the well-known 

 Prince Albert. 



282. Habitat and history of the Petraeum currants. — This 

 species comes from the mountains of central and southern 

 Europe, north Africa, Caucasus and from northern Asia, where 

 it does not seem to have early attracted the attention of gar- 

 deners, although it must have been seen by civilized men long 

 before the Christian era. It began to be pictured and described 

 accurately enough in the herbals by the middle of the sixteenth 

 century, so that its domestication can be said to date from about 

 that time. No doubt the hybridization of this species with the 

 other two began through natural means as soon as the three 

 types were grown in the same gardens. 



The Golden Currant 



Several varieties of currants are grown in gardens, chiefly in 

 the South and Middle West, under the group names Golden 

 currant, Buffalo currant, and Missouri currant. All of these 

 belong to R. odoratum, although put by some in R. aureum. 

 Golden currant is a misnomer, for the fruits are more often 

 black than golden. 



