536 ORD. XXVIII. Pomacee. 
complaints; to lessen an increased secretion of bile ;> and to cor- 
rect a putrid and scorbutic state of the fluids, especially in san- 
guine temperaments: but in constitutions of a contrary kind, they 
are apt to occasion flatulency and indigestion. 
» See Maclurg on the Bile, where the effects of the vegetable acid are considered. 
Samia = ___eeeeeeeee td 
RIBES NIGRUM. BLACK CURRANT. 
SYNONYMA. Ribes nigrum. Pharm. Lond. Ribes nigrum 
vulgo dictum folio olente. J. Bauh. Hist. ti. p. 98. Raii Hist. 
p. 1486. Synop. p. 456. Grossularia non spinosa fructu nigro. 
Bauh. Pin. p. 455. Ribes fructu nigro. Park. Theat. p. 1562. 
Gerard, Emac. p. 1593. Ribes inerme, olidum, calyce oblongo, 
petalis ovatis. Hall. Stirp. Helv.n. 819. Hudson Flor. Ang. p. 
99. Withering. Bot. Arrang. p. 243. 
Class. Pentandria. Ord. Monogynia. Lin. Gen. Plant. 281. 
Ess. Gen. Ch. Petala 5 et stamina calyci inserta. Stylus 2-fidus. 
Bacca polysperma, infera. 
Sp. Ch, R. inerme, racemis pilosis, floribus oblongis. 
THE Black Currant-tree usually rises six or seven feet in height: 
the old wood is covered with a dark brown or blackish bark, but 
that of the younger shoots is of a whitish colour: the leaves are 
commonly divided into three lobes, much veined, irregularly 
- serrated, of a deep green colour, and on the under side beset 
with many yellowish glands, which secrete an odoriferous fluid, 
impregnating the whole leaf; the leaf-stalks are similarly shaped 
to those of the red currant: the bractez, or floral leaves, are oval, 
short, and woolly; the flowers are produced in pendent bunches, 
upon slender pedicles, placed alternately ‘upon the common 
-racemus, or peduncle: the calyx is divided into five oval spread- 
ing ge: of a pale green or yellowish colour: the corolla is 
