146 SAXIFRAGACEAE 



1. R. aureum Pursh. Golden Currant. Shrub 4 to 8 feet high, nearly gla- 

 brous, not jrlaiulular; loaf-blades ]<y to IVs inches wide, 3 to 5-lobed, mostly obtuse 

 or truncate at base, the lobes rounded, entire or few-toothed or incised; racemes 

 about 1 inch long, loose, with few to several flowers, the bracts foliaceous; flowers 

 golden yellow, spicy-fragrant; calyx-tube slender, 2 to 3 times the length of the 

 oval calyx-lobes; calyx-lobes rotate, IV2 to 2 lines long; stamens not surpassing 

 the petals; ovary glabrous; berry j^ellow, crimson or black, 2 to 3 lines long. 



Moist land or banks of streams or lakes, 2600 to 4700 feet : east and north of 

 the Sierra Nevada crest, especially on the interior plateau of northeastern Cali- 

 fornia. North to British Columbia and east to the Rocky Mts. Apr.-May. Also 

 called Soldier Berry. 



Locs. — Maytcn, Siskiyou Co., Alexander cf- Kellogg; Yreka, Butler 266, 598; Egg Lake, 

 M. S. Baker ; Ft. Bidwell, Manning ; Alturas, Goldsmith; Amedee, Lassen Co., Davy (leaves 1 to 

 2 inches wide) ; Nelson Range, Inyo Co. 



Var. gracillimum Jepson. Flowers scentless, soon aging deep red; calyx-tube more slender 

 and calyx-lobes shorter (1 to 2 lines long) ; petals narrowly elliptic and denticulate. — Valley 

 floors and canon flats or liillsides, 800 to 2300 feet: South Coast Ranges from Contra Costa Co. 

 to San Luis Obispo Co. and south to western Riverside Co. Feb.-May. 



Locs. — Wild Cat Creek and Nilcs (Greene, Man. Reg. S. F. Bay, 124) ; San Antonio Valley, 

 Mt. Hamilton Range, Vaslit; Priest Valley, San Carlos Range, Jepson 2668; Tompleton, Pearl 

 C. Jared; San Fernando Valley, Parish 1948; Glendora, C. F. Baker 4154; Riverside. 



Refs. — RiBES AUREUM Pursh, Fl. 1:164 (1814), type from n. Rocky Mt. region, Lewis; 

 Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 125 (1816); Jepson, Man. 468 (1925). E. tenuiflonim Lindl. Trans. Hort. 

 Soc. Lond. 7:242 (1830), type collected in n. Rocky Mts., Leivis; Bot. Reg. t. 1274 (1829). 

 R. aureum var. tenuiflorum Torr. Pac. R. Rep. 4:88 (1857). Var. gracillimum Jepson, Man. 

 468 (1925). E. gracillimum Cov. & Britt. N. Am. Fl. 22:205 (1908), type loc. Stanford, Elmer 

 3025. B. aureum var. tenuiflorum Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 273 (1901), ed. 2, 201 (1911). 



2. R. cereum Dougl. Sheep Currant. Broad much-branched bush, usually 

 low, 1 to 3 or 7 feet high; foliage pleasantly but somewhat heavily fragrant; leaves 

 minutely glandular and glandular-dotted, sometimes also puberulent, % to 1 inch 

 (less commonly I/2 to li/4 inches) wide, shallowly 3 (or 5) -lobed or cleft, the lobes 

 serrate or incised; racemes drooping, 2 to 9-flowered; flowers 4 to 5 lines long; 

 calyx white or pinkish, tubular, its short lobes rotate, white; petals white, very 

 small, the blade transversely oblong with a very short broad claw; stamens in- 

 cluded, with very short filaments, inserted high on the tube; berries crimson, gla- 

 brous, glandular or with minute gland-tipped hairs, 3 lines in diameter. 



High montane, 5000 to 12,050 feet : Sierra Nevada and south to Mt. Pinos and 

 the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains. East to the Rocky 

 Mts., north to British Columbia. June-Aug. Also called Squaw Currant and 

 Wax Currant. 



Geog. note. — Throughout the western United States Ribes cereum has a wide geographic 

 range in the high montane country. Its altitudinal range may also be remarked. At the Feather 

 River Meadows where the wagon road comes down the ridge as one travels easterly from Mill 

 Creek and Morgan, it grows at about 5000 feet; on Mt. Whitney it occurs up to 12,000 feet and 

 is the last shrub found as one ascends that mountain. The foliage is mostly or nearly glabrous, 

 though sometimes it is puberulent or glandular-puberulent. Save for this the species is remark- 

 ably constant in its gross features, notwithstanding its area of distribution is characterized by 

 marked diversity of climate and habitat. 



Locs.— Mt. Shasta (N. Am. Fauna, 16:148) ; Egg Lake, Modoc Co., M. S. Baker; Mt. Bid- 

 well, Jepson 7860, 7876 ; Eagle Peak, Warner Mts., Jepson 7958 ; Dixie Mts., Lassen Co., At. S. 

 Baker; Prospect Mt., Lassen Co., J. Grinnell; Cinder Cone, Lassen Co., Jepson 4118; Feather 

 River Mdws. near Rice Creek, Jepson 12,280; Wilson Lake, Plumas Co., J. Grinnell; Truckee, 

 Sonne 20; Mt. Tallac, Pendleton c?- Eeed 1100; White Wolf Mdw., Tuolumne Co., A. L. Grant 

 1285; Sonora Peak, A. L. Grant 396; Mt. Dana, Jepson 3294; Bloody Canon, Mono Co., Jepson 

 4458; Tamarack Creek, Fresno Co., Wieslandcr ; Bench Mdw., Kaiser Ridge, Jepson 13,278; 

 Kearsarge Pass, Jepson 862; Harrison Pass, Jepson; Mt. Whitney, Burton ^ Ryerson; Kern 

 Canon, Jepson 969, 1107; Big Arroyo, Kern Canon, Jepson 4991; Mt. Silliman, Jepson 726; Min- 

 eral King, Jepson 1026; North Fork Middle Tule River, Jepson 4698; Sheep Mt., White Mts., 

 Jepson 7310; Silver Canon, White Mts., Jepson 7200, the berries now edible (July, 1917) and the 



