SAXIFRAGACE^. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. ") 175 



bryo minute at the base of hard albumen. — Low, sometimes prickly shrubs, 

 witli alternate and pahnately-lobed leaves, which are plaited in the bud (except 

 in one species), often fascicled on the branches ; the small flowers from the 

 same clusters, or from separate lateral buds. (From riebs, a German popular 

 name for the currant. Grossularia was the proper name to have been adopted 

 for the genus.) 



§ 1. GROSSULARIA. (Gooseberry.) Stems mosthj hearing thorns at the 

 base of the leafstalks or clusters of leaves, and often with scattered bristli/ 

 prickles; berries pricklij or smooth. (Our species are indiscrnninatebj called 

 Wild Gooseberry; the flowers greenish.) 



^Peduncles l-3-fowered; calyx as high as broad; leaves roundish-heart- 

 shaped, 3-5-lobed. 

 =1- Calyx-lobes decidedly shorter than the tube ; berries opt to be prickly. 



1. R. Cynosbati, L. Stamens and undivided style not longer than the 

 broadly bell-shaped calyx ; berries large, armed with long prickles or rarely 

 smooth. — Rocky woods, N. Brunswick to the mountains of N. C, and west to 

 Minn, and Mo. 



t- -*~ Calyx-lobes decidedly longer than the short and rather narrow tube ; hemes 

 smooth, purple, siceet and pleasant. 



2. E,. graeile, Michx. (Missouri Gooseberry.) Spines often long, 

 stout and red ; peduncles long and slender ; flowers ichite or whitish , filaments 

 capillary, 4-6" long, generally connivent or closely parallel, soon conspicuously 

 longer than the oblong-linear calyx-lobes. (R. rotundifolium, Man., in part.) — 

 Mich, to Tenn., west to Tex., Minn., and the Rocky Mts. 



3. R. rotundifolium, ]\richx. Spines short-, peduncles short; flowers 

 greenish or the loV)es dull purplish ; filaments slender, 2 -3" long, more or less 

 exceeding the narrowly oblong-spatulate calyx-lobes — W. Mass. and N. Y., south 

 in the Alleghauies to N. C. 



4. R. OXyaeanthoides, L. Peduncles very short , flowers greenish or 

 dull purplish : stamens usually scarcely equalling the rather broadly oblong cali/x- 

 lobes. (R. hirtellum, Michx ) — Newf. to N. J., west to Ind., Minn., and west- 

 ward. The common smooth-fruited gooseberry of the north, the whitish 

 spines often numerous. 



:; * Floivers several m a nodding raceme, small and flattish, greenish. 



5. R. laciistre, Poir. Young stems clothed with bristly prickles and 

 with weak thorns ; leaves heart-shaped, 3 - 5-parted, with the lobes deeply cut ; 

 calyx broad and flat ; stamens and style not longer than the petals ; fruit 

 bristly (small, unpleasant). — Cold woods and swamps, Newf. to N. Eng., west 

 to N. Y., Mich., and Minn. 



§2. RIBESIA. (Currant.) Thornless and prickless ; racemes few - many- 



flowered, stamens short. 



6. R. prostratum, L'Her. (Fetid Currant.) Stems reclined ; leaves 

 deeply heart-shaped, 5 - 7-lobed, smooth, the lobes ovate, acute, doubly serrate; 

 racemes erec^, slender , calyx flattish; pedicels and the {pale red) fruit glandu- 

 lar- bristly. — Cold damp woods and rocks. Lab. to mountains of N. C, west to 

 Mich., Minn., and the Rocky Mts. 



