BLACK CURRANTS. 205 



berries are quite black, less than half an inch in diameter, and 

 borne in clusters of four or five berries. It is much inferior 

 to the following. 



10. BLACK NAPLES. Thomp. P. Mag. Lind. 



The Black Naples is a beautiful fruit, the finest and largest 

 of all black currants, its berries often measuring nearly three 

 fourths of an inch in diameter. Its leaves and blossoms appear 

 earlier than those of the common black, but the fruit is later, 

 and the clusters, as well as the berries, are larger and more 

 numerous. 



ORNAMENTAL VARIETIES. There are several very ornamental 

 species of currant, among which we may here allude to the 

 MISSOURI CURRANT (Ribes Aureum,) brought by Lewis and 

 Clark from the Rocky Mountains, which is now very common 

 in our gardens, and generally admired for its very fragrant 

 yellow blossoms. Its oval blue berries, which are produced in 

 great abundance, are relished by some persons. But there is a 

 Large Fruited Missouri Currant, a variety of this, which bears 

 berries of the size of the Black Naples, and of more agreeable 

 flavour. 



The RED FLOWERING CURRANT (R. sanguineum,) is a very 

 beautiful shrub from the western coast of America, with foliage 

 somewhat like that of the common black, but which bears very 

 charming clusters of large light crimson blossoms-, in April. It 

 is not quite hardy enough to stand the winters to the north of 

 this. There are several varieties with white and pale pink 

 flowers. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE CRANBERRY. 



Oxycoccus, Arb. Brit. Ericaceae, of botanists. 



Airette, of the French ; Die Moosebeere, German ; Veen bessen, Dutch ; Ossicocco, 



Italian. 



THE cranberry is a familiar trailing shrub growing wild in 

 swampy, sandy meadows, and mossy bogs, in the northern por- 

 tions of both hemispheres, and produces a round, red, acid fruit. 

 Our native species, (O. macrocarpus,) so common in the swamps 

 of New-England, and on the borders of our inland lakes, as to 

 form quite an article of commerce, is much the largest and 

 finest species ; the European cranberry, (O. palustris,) being 



18 



