180 HOW TO KNOW WILD FRUITS 



to North Carolina. It extends west to Manitoba 

 and Missouri. 



WILD BLACK CURRANT 

 Ribes floridum Gooseberry Family 



Fruit. — The drooping racemes bear smooth, 

 black, round-ovoid berries with a linear bract at 

 the base of each pedicel. The dried calyx is at 

 the top of each fruit. Each berry is many- 

 seeded, with the seeds attached by tiny threads 

 to two opposite lateral placentae. The fruit is 

 watery and insipid. July, August. 



Leaves. — Tiny resinous dots on the leaves 

 are characteristic. The five to seven lobes of 

 each leaf are doubly toothed. 



Floioers. — The large whitish flowers grow in 

 drooping, loosely-flowered, bracted, and downy 

 racemes. 



This shrub is erect, and reaches a height of 

 from three to five feet. It is found in woods 

 from Nova Scotia south to Virginia and west to 

 Kentucky, Iowa, and Nebraska. 



