CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES 195 



Wild gooseberries were used by the Indians before Europeans 

 came to the New World, as they are now by the tribes in the 

 West and North. Trappers and early settlers have always eaten 

 the fruit. While the first settlers from England brought the 

 European gooseberry with them, only to fail in its culture, none 

 tried the native species in the garden until the nineteenth 

 century was well advanced. In 1833, Abel Houghton, Lynn, 

 Massachusetts, planted several English varieties near a plant 

 from the woods. Seeds were saved from fruit of this native, and 

 from it came the Houghton, which, however, was not dissemi- 

 nated until 1848. The domestication of the native gooseberry 

 has, therefore, taken place within less than one hundred years. 



288. Little-known species of American gooseberries. — Until 

 recently it was thought that R. oxyacanthoides, Linn., was the 

 parent of the score or more American gooseberries, but all these 

 are now put in R. hirtellum, or as hybrids of this and the 

 European gooseberry with a few exceptions to be noted. 

 R. Cynoshati, Linn., R. inerme, Rybd., R. setosum, LindL, and 

 R. missouriensis, Nutt., are represented, either as hybrids or 

 pure-breds, among American gooseberries. These and possibly 

 still other native species offer much for the plant-breeder. All 

 of the native species named should be hybridized with the 

 European gooseberry, which bears a much larger, handsomer, 

 and better-flavored fruit, in order to produce varieties capable 

 of withstanding the varied climate and soil conditions of the 

 several native species. 



289. Ribes Grossularia described. — This is the European 

 gooseberry, a comparison of the botanical description with that 

 of the American species showing it to be quite a different plant. 



7. Bihes Grossularia, Linn. (Plate XXIII) An upright, or spread- 

 ing, seldom drooping shrub 2-4 feet high; spines mostly in 3's, stout, some- 

 times bristly. Leaves cordate to broadly cuneate, pubescent or glabrous, 

 thick 1-3 inches broad, crenate or dentate, 3-5 lobed. Flowers solitary, 

 rarely 2; ovary pubescent or often glandular; calyx-tube campanulate, its 

 lobes oblong, smooth or pubescent, sometimes glandular or bristly, green, 

 yellow or red. 



290. Habitat of R. Grossularia. — The original form of the 

 cultivated European gooseberry is found in Europe, North 

 Africa, and the Caucasus. In this vast region there are several 

 botanical varieties, but the cultivated gooseberries seem to have 



