NAT. ORDER. 



Pomacece. 



RIBES RUBRUM. RED CURRANT. 



Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Petals five, inserted with the stamens into the calyx. 

 Style bifid. Berry many-seeded, inferior. 



Spe. Char. Racemes smooth, nodding. Leaves obtusely five-iobed. 



The Red Currant is a native of England, but is now cultivated 

 in gardens throughout most parts of the United States. It grows 

 from five to six feet in height, is divided into many branches, and cov- 

 ered with a dark brown bark, except the younger limbs, wliich arc of 

 a liglit green color. The leaves are serrated, veined, divided into five, 

 and sometimes seven lobes, of a pale green color, and stand upon 

 tapering footstalks, which are about the length of the leaves, and some- 

 what hairy near the base ; the bractece are small, oval, pointed, and 

 placed at the base of the leaf stalks and peduncles ; the flowers grow 

 in lateral, pendulous, raceme, or clusters, and appear in April; the 

 calyx is divided into five spreading, reflexed, pointed, oblong, concave, 

 permanent segments, which are of a greenish yellow color ; the corolla 

 is composed of five small, obtuse, upright petals, of a yellow color, 

 and inserted in the calyx ; the anthers are compressed, gaping at the 

 edges, and attached at their sides to the filaments ; the grrmcn is 

 roundish, placed below the corolla, and supports a cloven style, with 

 obtuse stigma ; the fruit is a round, shining red berry, of one cell, 

 separated into two receptacles, and containing many roundish seeds, 



and of a pleasant, tart taste ; the root is woody and spreading. 

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