328 RIBES. [CLASS V. ORDER 1. 



segments oblong, recurved, scattered over with glandular hairs. Petals 

 oblong, acute, fixed into the tube, and alternating with the segments of 

 the calyx. Stamens on slender filaments, bearing roundish oblong 

 anthers. Style short. Stigma obtuse, notched. Berry large, black, 

 globose, crowned by the withered flower, of a pleasant sub-acid taste, 

 with somewhat of the flavour of the leaves. 



Habitat. Damp woods, and the banks of rivers in various parts of 

 the country ; not unfrequent. 



Shrub ; flowering in May. 



The fruit of the black currant is esteemed by many persons much 

 more than the red ; but to others its peculiar fragrance is very ob- 

 jectionable. Made into jelly or jam, with sugar, the fruit is highly 

 approved of as a remedy for the relief of sore throats and ulcerated 

 mouths, either taken alone, made into- lozenges, or boiling water 

 poured upon it, and drinking the infusion. This, as well as an 

 infusion made of the leaves, is said to act powerfully as a diuretic ; 

 and a good draught of it taken hot before getting into bed promotes 

 perspiration; and the wine made from the fermented juice of the 

 berries is thought to have the same medicinal properties. In Siberia 

 the leaves are dried and mixed with souchong, to give it the flavour of 

 green tea; and infused in spirits they give it a colour resembling 

 common brandy. The young wood seems also to possess the same 

 properties as the leaves. 



* With Thorns. Flowers pedunculated one to three. Gooseberries. 



1. R. Grossula'ria, Linn. (Fig 398.) common Gooseberry. Peduncles 

 from one to three flowered, hairy, each flower-stalk bearing one, two, 

 or three bracteas ; fruit more or less hairy; calyx campanulate ; its 

 segments reflexed. 



English Botany, t. 1292. English Flora, vol. i. p. 334. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 123. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 107. 



/3 pubescens. Ovarium hairy, becoming smooth as the fruit ad- 

 vances to maturity. R. Uva crispa, Linn. English Botany, t. 2057. 



<y. glabrum. Smooth, except the margins of the leaves, petioles, 

 bractea, and calyx, being ciliated. Jt. reclinatum, Linn. 



A low much branched bush, with a smooth pale cuticle cracking and 

 rolling off, armed with sharp thorns, one, two, or three together imme- 

 diately beneath the buds, which put out a fascicule of leaves and the 

 flowers. Leaves numerous, on footstalks, channeled above, either 

 smooth or hairy, three or five lobed, cut and serrated, paler beneath, 

 with strong ribs and branched veins, generally hairy on both sides, 

 but sometimes quite smooth and shining above, while beneath it is 

 thickly clothed with soft hairs. Flowers solitary, or on a branched 

 peduncle of two ov three flowers from the axis of the leaves, smooth 

 or hairy, as arc the minute bractcas beneath them. Calyx bell-shaped, 



