RIBES 403 



the opposite side of the continent, and is a bigger bush, well-armed with 

 long stout spines. 



R. MISSOURIENSE, Nuttall, may be mentioned here although I do not 

 know that it is in cultivation. The name occurs in nursery catalogues, but the 

 plant so-called is a currant R. americanum. The true plant is a gooseberry, 

 native of the south central United States ; very closely allied to R. rotundi- 

 folium, perhaps a mere form of it. 



R. GROSSULARIOIDES, Maximowicz. A native of China and Japan, with 

 smooth or bristly stems armed with triple spines ; leaves smooth or with 

 glandular bristles. It differs from R. Grossularia in the style not being 

 downy and in the red berry being smooth. Introduced to Kew from N. 

 China by the late Dr Bretschneider in 1881. 



R. CvNOSBATI, Linnczus. Dogberry. A native of Eastern N. America ; 

 introduced in 1759. Its stems are weakly armed or not at all ; leaves and 

 leaf-stalks downy, calyx green, bell-shaped with reflexed sepals ; petals white ; 

 ovary bristly, the bristles not gland-tipped ; style downy towards the base ; 

 fruit reddish purple, scarcely J in. in diameter, more or less covered with 

 slender prickles. 



R. LACUSTRE, Poiret. 



A deciduous shrub, 3 to 5 ft. high, the stems thickly covered with slender 

 prickles or stiff bristles ; spines at the joints numerous, from three to nine 

 arranged in a semicircle. Leaves I to 2j ins. long and wide, handsomely 

 and deeply three- or five-lobed, the lobes often again deeply cut ; stalk and 

 chief veins more or less bristly. Flowers from twelve to twenty in glandular- 

 downy drooping racemes, 2 to 3 ins. long, funnel-shaped, with short, spread- 

 ing sepals brownish crimson inside, creamy white or pinkish outside. Berry 

 round, about the size of a black currant, covered with gland-tipped bristles, 

 black. 



Native of N. America on both sides of the continent, inhabiting cold damp 

 localities ; introduced in 1812. Although the general aspect of this shrub is 

 that of a gooseberry, especially in the shape of its leaves and in its spines, it 

 has the long racemes and flowers of the currants. Its multiple spines are 

 also distinct. Although it has no lively colour to recommend it, it is pretty 

 when its branches are strung with the graceful drooping racemes. 



R. MONTIGENUM, McClatchie (R. lentum, Coville\ is another species 

 which unites, as lacustre does, the two sections of the genus, but has shorter, 

 fewer-flowered racemes (six to ten) and bright red fruits. Introduced from 

 Western N. America in 1905. 



R. LAURIFOLIUM, Janczewski. 



An unarmed evergreen shrub, 4 to 6 ft. high, branchlets at first glandular, 

 then smooth and brown. Leaves leathery, ovate to oval, pointed, the largest 

 5 ins. long, half as wide, coarsely toothed, each tooth terminated by a minute 

 glandular tip, dark dull green above, paler and brighter beneath, smooth on 

 both surfaces ; stalk and stipules bristly. Racemes nodding, ij to 7\ ins. 

 long, i^in. wide, main-stalk glandular-downy, viscid. Flowers greenish yellow, 

 \ in. diameter ; calyx and stalk downy. Bracts oblong, inclined to obovate, 

 f in. long, thin, greenish white. Fruit oval, blackish, \ in. long. 



Native of W. China ; discovered and introduced in 1908 by Wilson. It is 

 not a showy plant, but is interesting and welcome in flowering as early as 

 February. The flowers are unisexual, the sexes separated on different plants j 

 the females are longer than the males, and with only abortive stamens. 

 Mr Wilson says it is rare in a wild state. Young shoots are often red. 



