

2<J0 



PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Ribes. 





Var. 2. Sweet Currants. Ribes vulgaris fructu dulci. Rat 

 Sjn. 456. 



Woods in Yorkshire and Leicestershire. 



Var. 3. Small Currants* Ribes fructu par<vo.lkkr£ Syn. 456. 



Wimbleton Park, Surry ; and many places in Lancashire, 



alpi'num. R. Bunches upright : floral-leaves longer than the flowers. 



E. bot. 704-F/. dan. 968-Knipb. 3-Gunn. ii. 2. 1 and 2- 

 J acq. austr. tf-J. B. ii. 98. 



Calyx tubular, 



Stam. shorter than the petals. Pistil as tall 



Leaves segments spear-shaped, pointed, 

 bluntly 5-sided. 



as the cup. 



Siveet Mountain Currants. Woods and hedges in Yorkshire. 



In the wood on the S. W. 



S. May.* 



[About Bradford. Mr. Woodward. 





side of the pool at Edgbaston, plentifully. ] 



Var. 2. Male and female flowers on different plants. 



Jacq. austr. 37- left hand fig, the male plant, and the single 

 floret at the bottom. This, hitherto unnoticed as an English 

 plant, was communicated to me by John Sneyd, Esq. who found 

 it in a hedge not far from Ham in the North of Staffordshire, on 

 lime-stone land. The female flowers produced 5 imperfect sta- 



and form a shorter and more thinly set bunch than the 

 male flowers, which have 5 perfect stamens, and 2 summits, but 

 no germen. These dioicous plants have been observed in Ger- 

 many by Jacquin and Leers, but the female plant much more 

 scarce than the male. Mr. Robson informs me that it is pretty 

 frequent about Darlington, and that the plants are often male 

 and female. 



mens 



spica'tunvR. Spikes upright: petals oblong: floral -leaves shorter 



than the flowers. (Linn. Tr.) 



Linn. Trans. 



This is not a hybrid plant, for its seeds produced perfect plants. 



It is near to the R. petneum of Jacquin in some respects, but the 



fruit of that species is pendant, which is not the case with this. 



The upright spikes are sufficient to distinguish it from all its bre- 



, thren. Mr. Robson. This new species of Ribes was first disco- 



The fruit has a flat sweetish taste, and is only agreeable to children. 

 The wood being hard and tough makes good teeth for rakes. Cows, goats, 

 sheep, and horses eat the leaves. — *• It is well worth observing how truly 

 the insertion of the stamina into the calyx, as in the class fcosafJr/a, in- 

 dicates a wholesome fruit. The fruits of the Pentandna M(*nogynU are 

 generally dangerous, many of them peculiarly fatal. Ribes is an excep- 

 tion, indicated by the insertion of its stamina, in which, though not in 

 their number, it accords with the Icosandria. With this simple guide a 

 traveller in the most unknown wilderness might eat in safety, and thus 

 the natural tree of knowledge leads to life." E. bot. 



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