124 GROSSULARIACE^. 



Order LVI. GROSSULARIACE^.— Currantworts. 



Calyx campanulate or tubular, 4 — 5 -parted, sometimes col- 

 ored. Petals 4 — 5, minute, inserted into the throat of the 

 calyx. Stamens 4 — 5, inserted alternately with the petals, 

 very short. Ovary 1 -celled; style 2 — 4 cleft. Fruit a berry, 

 crowned with the withered flower, 1 -celled. Seeds numerous, 

 suspended among the pulps by long filiform cords ; albumen 

 corneous. — Shrubs, either spiny or unarmed. Leaves alternate, 

 lobed. Flowers mostly in racemes. 



RIBES. Linn. — Currant and Gosseberry. 



(An Arabic name, said to have been originally applied to a species of rhubarb, 

 Rheum Ribes.) 



Character same as that of the order. 



* Stem unarriied ; flowers in racemes. Ribesia. 



1. R. rubrum Linn. : leaves subcordate, obtusely 3 — 5-lobed, pubescent 

 beneath v?hen young, mucronate-serrate ; calyx rotate, the segments round- 

 ish ; petals truncate ; fruit smooth, globose, R. albinervium Mich. 



Woods and swamps, (on mountains ?) N. Y. ? Ver. W. to the St. Croix 

 river. Can. to the moulh of Mackenzie river. April, May. ?^. — Flowers in 

 pendulous racemes, small, greenish-yellow. Berries red. Red Currant. 



2. R. prostratum VHer. : stem reclining or prostrate ; leaves deeply 

 cordate, smooth, 5 — 7-lobed ; the lobes somewhat ovate, acute, coarsely 

 serrate ; calyx rotate, the segments obovate ; petals spatulate, small ; fruit 

 glandular-hispid, globose. R. glandulosum Ait. R. rigens and R. trifidum 

 Mich, (according to Torr. <^ Gr.) 



Rocky places. Subarct. Amer. to Penn. W. to the Rocky Mountains. May, 

 June. \i. — SteTTis 1 — 3 feet long, procumbent, with erect -branches. Racemes 

 few-flowered, erect, at length pendulous. Petals purplish. Berries red, rather 

 large, not well flavored. The plant has a disagreeable odor. Fetid Currant. 



3. R. florid^im VHer. : leaves on long petioles, punctate on both sides, 

 sharply 3 — 5-lobed, subcordate ; the lobes acute, doubly serrate ; racemes 

 pendulous, pubescent ; bracts linear, longer than the pedicels ; calyx tubu- 

 lar-campanulate, the segments oblong-spatulate ; fruit ovoid-globose, smooth 

 R. recurvatum Mich. R. Pennsylvanicum Lam. 



Woods and hedges. Subarct. Amer. to Virg. and Ken. April, May. %. — 

 Stem 3 — 4 feet high. Flowers yellowish-green, rather large. Berries black and 

 insipid. Wild Black Currant. 



** Stem usually armed with subaxillary spines, often prickly. Grossularia. 



4. R. Cynosbati Linn. : stem unarmed or prickly ; subaxillary spines 

 1 — 3; leaves cordate, roundish, pubescent, with 3 — 5 incisely-toothed lobes- 

 peduncles long, 2 — 3-flowered ; tube of the calyx broad-campanulate, shghtlv 

 contracted at the mouth ; fruit prickly, rarely smooth. 



