258 THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 



R.vulgare. Schneider III. Hdb. Laubh. 1:401. 1905; Janczewski Mowogr. 276. 1907; 



Coville & Britton A^. Am. Fl. 22:198. 1908; Rehder in Bailey Stand. Cyc. Hort. 



5:2960. 1916; not Lamarck. 

 R. rubrunt auct. Loudon Arb. 2:977. 1844; not Linnaeus. 

 R. domesticum. Janczewski Pluralite des espkces de grosseilliers in Comptes rendus 



26:588. 1900. 

 R. silvestre, R. hortense Hedlund, Om R. rubrum. Botaniska Notiser 92. 1901. 



Red Currant. — Erect shrub, 1-1.5 m high; growing shoots, leaves, and petioles 

 pubescent and with hyaline globular glands, young branches with thin yellowish bark. 

 Leaves cordate at the base, 3- to 5-lobed, more or less 5-angular, lateral lobes spread- 

 ing, smaller than the middle one, crenate-serrate, the roundish teeth with a short pale 

 point ; smooth or with a few scattered hairs above, paler beneath and from scattered short 

 hairs slightly pubescent, glabrous when old, about 7 cm long and 8 cm wide. Petioles 

 4-5 cm long, channeled above, widened and ciliate at the base, slightly pubescent. Racemes 

 more or less drooping, about 5 cm long, rather lax, with 10-20 flowers; rhachis almost 

 smooth; bracts small, ovoid, somewhat recurved; pedicels slender, 3-5 mm long, mostly 

 smooth. Flowers rotate, greenish yellow. Receptacle saucer-shaped, with a flat bottom 

 and a prominent elevated, roundish pentangular rim, the elevated angles of which are 

 opposite the petals, this rim often reddish or brownish. Sepals spreading, broader than 

 long, but the claw-like base lengthening after unfolding, patent, with the top revolute. 

 Petals very small, cimeate, yellowish or reddish. Stamens erect, short, anthers with a 

 broad connective, separating the anther-cells. Ovary roundish tvupiniform (top-shaped), 

 smooth. Style short, as long as the stamens, bifid halfway down. Fruits globular, 

 crowned with the pentagonal remains of the flower, shining and transparent, usually 

 red, acidulous, 6-10 mm across. 



Western Europe; France, Belgium, Great Britain, western Germany, 

 southern Sweden and northwestern Italy. In North America escaped 

 from cultivation and subspontaneous from Massachusetts to Ontario and 

 Wisconsin, south to Virginia, and in Oregon and British Columbia, and in 

 Alaska. Chautauqua, Diploma, Versailles, and Wilder are typical culti- 

 vated varieties of this species. 



R. sativum Syme var. macrocarpum. Bailey Gent. Herb. 1:134. 1923; Berger N. Y. 

 Sta. Tech. Bui. 109:8. 1925. 



R. vulgare var. macrocarpum. Janczewski Monogr. 279, figs. 22 & 23. 1907 ; Schneider 

 III. Hdb. Laubh. 1:401. 1905; Rehder in Bailey Stand. Cyc. Hort. 5:2960. 1916. 



R. acerifolium Hort. 



Robust shrub of irregular growth. Leaves larger, deeply cordate at the base and with 

 larger, rotmdish teeth, firmer, 3- to 5-lobed, lobes somewhat pointed, the middle lobe much 

 the larger, of a dark, almost bluish green above, paler almost glossy and scarcely pubescent 

 beneath. Racemes drooping; flowers larger, often finely dotted with red, with a prominent 

 ring. 



