RIBES. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RICHARDIA. 



K. VERNIX (Poison Sumach).- This is a 

 shrub or, in its own country, a small tree 

 with pinnate leaves, and growing in 

 swamps in southern Ontario and the 

 coast district of the eastern States. It 

 is a very poisonous plant, and must not 

 be brought much into gardens. The 

 leaves are glossy and smooth, and turn a 

 fine colour in autumn. 



R/nts typhina. 



RIBES (Currant). The favourite old 

 Crimson-flowering Currant (R. sangui- 

 neum) is typical of the few species that 

 can be called ornamental shrubs. This 

 shrub is so common that I need only 

 allude to the fine varieties of it that 

 are to be obtained from the best nur- 

 series. Perhaps the best form is that 

 named King Edward VII., with very 

 large flowers of intense colour. Deep 

 and rich in colour is the variety atro- 

 rubens (called also splendens), though 

 the flowers and racemes are smaller. 

 The crimson-red of its blooms forms a 

 striking contrast to the variety named 

 albidum, whose flowers are almost 

 white, though slightly suffused with 

 pink. The double sort (flore-pleno) is 

 an admirable shrub, with very double 

 flowers, which last a long time in 

 perfection, and, as they expand later 

 than the common kind, prolong the 

 season. The variety glutinosum is 

 distinguished by clammy foliage and 

 large pale rosy - pink flowers. A new 

 form with golden leaves has recently 

 come to light, but is not yet generally 

 obtainable. 



The Yellow-flowering, or Buffalo 

 Currant (R. aureum), deserves to be 

 more commonly grown. It is a 

 different shrub from R. sanguineum, 

 having larger flowers of a rich yellow, 

 which appear about the end of April 

 or beginning of May ; the leaves also 

 are smaller, more deeply lobed, and of 

 a paler green. The variety prcecox is 

 so named because it flowers earlier 



than R. aureum, and is most desirable 

 on that account, and the variety 

 serotinum, because it flowers late. 

 Serotinum is even finer than the 

 type. 



R. GORDONIANUM. A hybrid between 

 R. aureum and R. sanguineum, is an 

 old and tolerably common shrub inter- 

 mediate in growth as well as in flowers, 

 which are an orange-red ; it is distinct 

 and showy. It is also known as R. 

 Beatoni and R. Loudoni. Of the numerous 

 other species there is none so fine as the 

 Californian Fuchsia Currant (R.speciosum), 

 whose flowers so much resemble miniature 

 Fuchsia blossoms that in some places 

 it goes by the name of R. Fuchsioides. 

 Its deep red blooms have protruding 

 stamens, and hang from the leaf-axils 

 in clusters of two or three. In growth 

 and foliage it resembles a Gooseberry. 

 A densely-flowered bush is extremely 

 pretty, and lasts in perfection a long 

 time. Though hardy enough to be 

 grown as a bush in the milder parts 

 of England, it is usually seen against 

 a wall, and there are few more elegant 

 wall shrubs. Grown thus it is 6 to 

 8 feet in height. Another and newer 

 kind, also very like a Gooseberry when 

 out of flower, is R. Lobbii, from Cali- 

 fornia, with very pretty purple and 

 white flowers like a little Fuchsia, followed 

 by small hairy fruits of agreeable flavour. 

 Most of the other varieties have incon- 

 spicuous flowers, but one or two are worth 

 growing for the sake of their autumn 

 foliage, which dies away in various 

 shades of crimson. The Missouri Currant 

 (R. floridum), also called R. missourense, 

 is one of the best of these. It is a stock 

 plant in some of the largest nurseries. 

 The Flowering Currants are really an 

 important group of shrubs and deserve 

 the best attention, and instead of being 

 crammed in the usual shrubbery-mixture, 

 should be grouped by themselves. 



RICHARDIA (Calla). This name 

 has been accepted by botanists for 

 the last three-quarters of a century, 

 although it is not yet generally used 

 by gardeners. The genus consists now 

 of various species. They all have a 

 perennial tuberous root-stock, not 

 unlike that of Caladium, from which 

 spring the annual leaves and scapes, 

 the former with folding stalks, which 

 form a kind of stem, bearing sagittate 

 leaves, the latter erect, stout, and 

 bearing a large spathe. There is a 

 noteworthy difference between R. 

 cethiopica and the others, the former 

 having a rhizome and never naturally 

 dying down. 



R. JETHIOPICA (Lily of the Nile), 

 Introduced into Europe from S. 



