SAXIFRAGACEAE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 
MISSOURI GOOSEBERRY 
Ribes gracile Michx. 
This is a shrub of dry or rocky soil from Michigan and 
Indiana to South Dakota, south to Tennessee and Oklahoma. 
It grows up to 4% feet and usually has 1-3 spines at each node 
on the stem. The young 
branches are white or ‘ 
whitish and often covered 
with prickles. 
The white or greenish 
white, epigynous flowers 
appear in April or May in 
inverted clusters on stalks 
which are usually some- 
what hairy and gland 
bearing. The calyx con- 
sists of 5 long lobes and a 
short tube on the throat 
of which the 5 small 
petals are inserted. The 5 
stamens alternate with 
the petals and have long 
threadlike filaments. The 
2 long styles are somewhat united. The fruit matures from July 
to September as a smooth, purplish, many-seeded and edible 
berry. The tips which are picked from the fruits are the ends of 
the sepals, as the Gooseberry is the fleshy calyx enclosing the 
ovary and seeds. 
The Prickly Gooseberry, Ribes Cynosbati L., which is quite 
common in central and northern Illinois, has greenish flowers in 
which stamens and style are not longer than the bell-shaped calyx, 
and the fruits are armed with long prickles. Rocky woods are 
the choice of this Gooseberry, from western Maine to the mountains 
of North Carolina, west to Manitoba and Missouri. 
The Currants, both wild and cultivated, are closely related to 
the Gooseberries. They may be distinguished by the absence of 
spines at the nodes, and by the flower clusters, which are elongated 
racemes with several flowers instead of only 1-4 as in the Goose- 
berries. Our commonest wild Currant is the Wild Black Currant, 
Ribes floridum L’Hér., which has rather large yellowish flowers 
in April and May. This plant ranges from New Brunswick to 
Saskatchewan and southwestward. 
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