THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 273 



Grossularia cynosbati Linn. Miller Card. Diet. 8th Ed. No. 5. 1768; Coville & 



Britton A''. Am. Fl. 22:220. 1908; Berger A''. Y. Sta. Tech. Bui. 109:91. 1925. 

 Ribes cynosbati. Linnaeus S p. PL 202. 1753; Loudon ylr6. 2:970. 1844; Britton & 



Brown ///. Fl. 2:188, fig. 1865. 1897; Card Bush-Fr. 464. 1898; Schneider III. 



Hdb. Lanbh. 1:411. 1905; Ibid. 2:950. 1912; Janczewski Monogr. 383, fig. 108. 



1907; Gray New Man. 7th Ed. 451. 191 1; Rehder in Bailey Stand. Cyc. Hort. 



5:2962. 1 9 16; Bean T"ree5 (5° S/zrw^s 2:403. 1921. 

 Ribes gracile. Michaux FZ. Bor. Am. i:iii. 1803; Torrey FZ. U. S. 269. 1824. 



Wild Gooseberry. — Much-branched, divaricate shrub, 1.5 m high, with slender 

 branches, young shoots and cions brown, pubescent, in the lower part with many weak, 

 reflexed, often gland-tipped bristles, near the top and on weaker shoots devoid of bristles; 

 nodal spines 1-3, straight, subulate, brown, spreading or pointing downwards, 10-15 

 mm long or more. Leaves variable but mostly roundish ovate, with a truncate or subcor- 

 date base, 3- to s-lobed, lobes more or less pointed or obtuse, crenate or incised-crenate, 

 middle lobe the longest, lateral ones spreading, the lowest two often indistinct, the sinus 

 variable; texture rather thin, dark green and pubescent above, paler and softly pubescent 

 beneath, ciliate on the margins; varying in size, on cions often 6 cm long and 6.5 cm wide. 

 Petioles shorter than the blades, about 25-35 ^™- long, pubescent and with long soft, 

 often gland-tipped hairs, especially near the base. Peduncles and pedicels slender, about as 

 long as the petioles, pubescent and glandular-hairy; bracts ovate, small, pubescent and 

 glandular-ciliate, much shorter than the usually 5-10 mm long, often glabrous pedicels. 

 Ovary small, roundish, glabrous, but usually with several or many, small, pointed bristles; 

 receptacle campanulate or cylindrical-campanulate, much broader than the ovary, greenish, 

 glabrous, 3-4 mm long; sepals shorter than the receptacle, oblong, obtuse, green; petals 

 obovate, shorter than the sepals, white ; stamens a little longer, anthers oblong ; style bifid, 

 pubescent below. Berry globose or oblong, wine-red, 8-12 mm across, more or less beset 

 with stout prickles, edible, though with rather thick skin. 



Eastern North America; from New Brunswick to North Carolina and 

 Alabama in the South, to Missouri in the West and to Manitoba in the 

 North, common in woods and rocky places. A variable species in all its 

 parts. The young shoots are glabrous or finely pubescent and with 

 ntimerous bristles or without. The shape and pubescence of the leaves 

 and petioles vary greatly. 



The following varieties have been named; they occur with the type: 



(i) var. inermis. Rehder in Bailey Stand. Cyc. Hort. 1. c. 



Ovary and fruit without prickles. 



This may be sometimes mistaken for some forms of G. hirtella, but it 

 has much longer pedtmcles and the stamens are about as long as the petals. 



(2) var. glabrata Femald. 



Leaves glabrous or only slightly pubescent or pilose on the veins. 



(3) var. villosa Berger. 



18 



