RIBES 401 



R. CURVATUM, Small. 



A low, deciduous, bushy shrub, less than 3 ft. high ; the shoots smooth, 

 purplish, armed with slender, simple or triple spines. Leaves roundish, 

 usually i in. or less in diameter, three- to five-lobed, toothed, slightly downy ; 

 stalk slender, downy. Flowers produced singly or in pairs (rarely more) on 



rndent stalks, white ; calyx bell-shaped with linear, much reflexed sepals 

 in. long ; petals very short, white ; ovary covered with resinous glands ; 

 stamens ^ in. long, erect, both they and the style downy. Fruits globose, 

 smooth, \ in. across, purplish. 



Native of the south-eastern United States, apparently hardy. I brought 

 plants from the Arnold Arboretum to Kew in July 1910, which, so far as I am 

 aware, were the first introduced to this country. It is closely allied to 

 R. niveum, which it resembles in its white flowers and downy style and 

 stamens, but the glandular ovary and often glabrous anthers are different. 

 R. curvatum is also much dwarfer in habit, and comes from the opposite side 

 of N. America. 



R. DlACANTHA, Pallas. 



A deciduous shrub, 4 to 6 ft. high, armed w. : th spines in pairs \ to in. 

 long, or sometimes unarmed ; young shoots not downy. Leaves obovate or 

 rounded, often three-lobed, the lobes coarsely toothed ; f to 2 ins. wide, the 

 base ordinarily wedge-shaped but sometimes rounded, quite smooth ; stalk 

 j to in. long, more or less furnished with bristles. Flowers unisexual, the 

 sexes on different plants. Males yellowish, in erect glandular racemes. 

 Fruit roundish oval, about as big as a red currant, smooth, scarlet-red. 



Native of Siberia, Manchuria, etc. ; introduced in 1781. This shrub, which 

 has no particular merit, resembles R. alpinum in the plants being one-sexed, 

 but differs in having prickles, and in the markedly wedge-shaped leaves. 

 In having spines, and flowers in racemes, it unites the characters of the 

 currants and gooseberries, but its affinities are with the former. 



R. FASCICULATUM, Siebold. 

 (Sargent's Trees and Shrubs, t. 38.) 



A deciduous, unarmed shrub, 3 to 5 ft. high ; young shoots finely downy. 

 Leaves three- to five-lobed, the largest 2 ins. long, 2^ to 3 ins. wide ; the 

 lobes coarsely toothed, usually more or less downy ; stalk downy and with 

 feathered bristles near the base. Flowers unisexual, the sexes on separate 

 plants^ Males clustered four to nine together in a stalkless umbel, *".*., each 

 flower is on its own stalk without uniting on a common one ; yellow, fragrant, 

 smooth ; females usually in pairs, sometimes three or four. Fruits erect on 

 a stalk \ in. long, round, \ to ^ in. diameter, smooth, bright scarlet. 



Native of China, Japan, and Corea, and distinct from all other species in 

 cultivation in having the flowers clustered in fascicles. 



Var. CHINENSE, Maximoivicz (B. Billiardii, Carricre\ is a taller shrub, 

 partially evergreen, more downy than the type. The fruits of both are 

 ornamental, and remain long on the branches. 



R. GAYANUM, Steudel. 



(R. villosum, Gay, Bot. Mag., t. 7611.) 



An unarmed evergreen shrub, 3 to 5 ft. high ; the young wood, leaf-stalks, 

 flower-stalks, ovary, and calyx shaggy with soft hairs. Leaves stout, greyish, 



