THE SMALL FRUITS OF NEW YORK 277 



very variable species, usually confounded with G. oxyacanthoides and 

 G. inermis, easily recognized from both by the characteristic cuneate leaf 

 bases. This species has been much employed by hybridizers to produce 

 American varieties of gooseberries. The variety Pale Red (American 

 Seedling, Cluster, or Ohio Seedling) is, according to Hedrick Cyclopedia of 

 Hardy Fruits, 309. 1922, a pure-bred of this species. 



(i) var. calcicola Femald (1. c.)- 



Differs chiefly by densely pubescent leaves and bracts and purplish 

 pubescent flowers and ovaries. 



It is found in marly swamps and on limestone rocks from Michigan to 

 New England and Quebec. 



G. downingiana Berger {G. hirtella x reclinata.) 



Shrub with slender arching branches, older ones with cherry-like brown bark, younger 

 ones gray, usually without bristles; nodal spines 3 or i, subulate, 5-10 mm long. Leaves 

 variable in shape, some rovmdish and with a broad truncate or also subcordate base, others 

 obovate with a decidedly wedge-shaped base; 3- to 5-lobed, lobes obtuse, crenate, of rather 

 thin texture, glabrous above, paler and slightly pubescent or glabrous at length under- 

 neath. Petiole pubescent and with scattered plumose, sometimes glandular, fringes. 

 Peduncles shorter than the petioles, glabrous, 2- to 3-flowered; bracts roundish, pubescent, 

 and fimbriate. Ovary small, pear-shaped, glabrous; receptacle bell-shaped, bright or pale 

 green, inside with numerous long white hairs near the throat, sepals a little longer, oblong, 

 obtuse, recurved, green or slightly tinged with red inside at the base and along the margins, 

 smooth or with a few scattered hairs at the back; petals about half as long, obovate-cuneate, 

 with a revolute margin at the top, white; stamens white, as long as the sepals, anthers 

 oblong, greenish; style deeply bifid, villous at the base. Berries roundish oval, green or 

 dark red, glabrous with a thin skin, agreeable; seeds small, numerous. 



This hybrid originated in cultivation in the United States. To this 

 belong most of the American gooseberry varieties, like Downing, Carrie, 

 Oregon, Pearl, Poorman, Josselyn, Smith, Van Fleet, etc. 



G. rustica Jancz. Berger {G. reclinata uva-crispa x hirtella.) 



Ribes rusticum. Janczewski Bui. Ac. Sci. Nat. Crac. 3:286. 1906; Janczewski 

 Monogr. 495. 1907. 



Shrub with erect, rather stout, grayish branches; nodal spines 1-3, subulate; growing 

 shoots downy. Leaves broader than long, roimdish with a broadly tnmcate or subcordate, 

 rarely somewhat wedge-shaped base, 3- to s-lobed, lobes obtuse dentate, rather soft and 

 thin, shortly and sparingly puberulous above at first, paler and densely pubescent beneath, 

 glabrescent later on. Petioles hirsute and with scattered plumose fringes. Pedxincles 

 shorter than the petioles, hirsute, 2- to 3-flowered; bracts roundish, hirsute, and ciliate, 

 pedicels pubescent. Ovary small, pyriform, more or less tomentose ; receptacle bell-shaped, 

 hairy inside, green, like the sepals more or less pubescent; sepals oblong, obtuse, reflexed, a 

 little longer than the receptacle, more or less tinged with red along the margins and at the 



