RIB 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RI C 



473 



17. Ribes Sanguineum ; Crimson-flowered Currant. Leaves 

 coidate, trilobed, serrate, venous-lineate, glabrous on the 

 upper side ; racemes lax, pubescent, as long again as the 

 leaves ; calix tubulated ; petals oblong, of the length of the 

 calix ; bractes obovate, spathulate, of the length of the pedi- 

 cels ; germina rough ; branches purple ; Mowers beautiful, of 

 a. blood-red or purple. Grows on the Columbia river. 



18. Ribes Aureum; Golden-flowered Currant. Plant very 

 glabrous ; leaves trilobed ; lobes divaricate, inciso-dentate ; 

 racemes lax, densely multiflorous ; calix tubulate, longer 

 than the pedicels ; tube slender ; segments oblong, obtuse ; 

 petals linear, as short again as the segments of the calix ; 

 bractes linear, of the length of the pedicels ; berries glabrous. 

 It grows on the banks of the rivers Missouri and Columbia. 

 The flowers are of a beautiful golden yellow colour; the 

 berries are red or browu, of an exquisitely fine taste, and 

 considerably larger than any of our garden Currants. 



19. Ribes Recurvatum. Branches recurvate ; leaves widish, 

 acutely lobate, pubescent, glandulous-pinnate ; racemes 

 reflex ; calix tubulated, glabrous ; berries black. Grows 

 near Hudson's Bay. 



** Prickly : Grossularise, or Gooseberries. 



20. Ribes Diacautha; Two-spined Gooseberry. Prickles 

 in pairs, stipular ; flowers in racemes ; leaves wedge-form, 

 three-parted, toothed; berries smootli. This is a kind of 

 intermediate species between the Currants and Gooseberries : 

 it has a pair of prickles only at the buds, in other parts it is 

 unarmed. Native of Siberia, in gravelly, stony, saline soils. 



21. Ribes Saxatile ; Mountain Gooseberry. Prickles scat- 

 tered ; leaves wedge-form, obtusely three-lobed ; racemes 

 erect. This is an intermediate plant between the preceding- 

 and fifth species : it has the habit of a Gronsularia, and the 

 fruit of the Ribes. It is nearly upright. Native of Siberia. 



22. Ribes Reclinatum; Procumbent Gooseberry. Branches 

 somewhat prickly, reclining ; bracte of the peduncle three- 

 leaved ; fruit when ripe commonly dark purple, but some- 

 times red, or even yellow. Native of Germany, common in 

 cold situations all over Switzerland. It flowers in April, and 

 the fruit is ripe in June and July. 



23. Ribes Grossularia; Rough-fruited Gooseberry. Branches 

 spreading, prickly; petioles hairy ; peduncles one-flowered ; 

 bractes two; fruit hairy. Berries green, yellow, or red. 

 Native of several parts of Europe. Found in woods and 

 hedges about Darlington. 



24. Ribes Uva Crispa; Smooth-fruited Gooseberry. Branches 

 spreading, prickly ; peduncles one-flowered; bractes con- 

 nate, tubulous ; fruit smooth. This differs from the preced- 

 ing only in the smoothness of the berries, in having the 

 bractes united into a tube at the base, and the hairs of the 

 petioles glandular; all of which are, however, fallacious and 

 uncertain marks. The name Gooseberry, was probably de- 

 rived from their being eaten as sauce, with young, or, as they 

 are commonly called, green geese. From all accounts it is 

 evident that this fruit was at first little valued, but it has 

 received so much improvement by cultivation, that it is be- 

 come very useful, not only for tarts, pies, and sauces, both 

 fresh and preserved in bottles, but also as an early dessert 

 fruit, for which purpose it is preserved in sugar for winter 

 use. The varieties now best known are; 1. The Red Goose- 

 berries ; the Hairy, the Smooth, the Deep Red, the Damson 

 or Dark Bluish, the^Red Raspberry, the Early Black Red, 

 the Champaigne, &c. 2. The Green Gooseberries ; the Hairy, 

 the Smooth, the Gascoigne, the Raspberry, &c. 3. Yellow 

 Gooseberries; the Great Oval, the Great Amber, the Hairy 

 Amber, the Early Amber, the Large Tawny, or Great Mogul, 

 &c. 4. The White Gooseberries ; the Common, the White- 



veined, and the Large Crystal. Besides these, there is, among 

 two hundred others, the Rumbullion, the Large Ironmonger, 

 the Smooth Ironmonger, and the Hairy Globe. Some of these 

 are of very large size, annually raised from seed, weighing 

 from ten to seventeen pennyweights ; but the smaller sorts 

 are better tasted. Native of the northern parts of Europe. 

 It is not thought to be truly indigenous in this country, though 

 it is common in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and other counties, 

 in hedges, on walls and old buildings, and in decaying trees, 

 where the seeds have been deposited by birds. For its pro- 

 pagation and culture, see the first species. In many parts 

 of Lancashire there are many little societies, where the Goose- 

 berry is annually exhibited : it is a fruit here uncommonly 

 fine ; and great attention is paid in the cultivation of it. This 

 is chiefly effected by much more pruning and thinning than 

 that which is generally had recourse to with these sorts of 

 plants, frequent digging about them, and a very liberal use 

 of well-rotted stable-dung incorporated with the mould which 

 is applied near the roots. 



25. Ribes Oxycanthoides ; Hawthorn-leaved Currant. 

 Branches prickly on every side. This has more frequent and 

 milder prickles than the Common Gooseberry. It flowers in 

 April and May. Native of Canada. 



26. Ribes Cynosbati ; Prickly-fruited Currant. Prickles 

 subaxillary ; fruit prickly, in racemes. It flowers in April 

 Native of Canada. 



27. Ribes Rotundifolium. Spine subaxillary ; leaves sub- 

 orbiculate, subpubescent ; lobes subrotund-obtuse ; peduncles 

 uniflorous ; limb of the calix tubulous; berries glabrous. 

 Grows on the high mountains of Carolina. 



28. Pqbes Hirtellum. Spinule subaxillary ; branches sub- 

 hispid; leave* small, semitrifid ; lobes subdentated ; pedun- 

 cles uniflorous; berries glabrous, red. Grows among rocks 

 in the Alleghany mountains, from Canada to Virginia. 



29. Kibes Gracile. Spinule subaxillary; leaves with slen- 

 der petioles, pubescent on both sides ; lobes acute, dentate- 

 incise ; peduncles capillary, subbiflorous ; calix tubulale- 

 campanulate ; berries glabrous, purple or blue, of an excel- 

 lent taste. Grows on rocks and in mountain-meadows from 

 New Yoi'k to Carolina. 



30. Ribes Lacustris. Spine subaxillary ; stem hispid- 

 aculeate on every side ; leaves lobated above the middle; 

 petioles villose ; berries racemose, hispid, amber-coloured or 

 brown; flowers small, greenish yellow. Grows in swamps 

 on the mountains from Canada to Virginia. 



Riccia ; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order Hepaticse. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers, sessile on the 

 surface of the frond. Calix and Corolla: none. Stamina: 

 antherae conical, truncate, sessile, opening at the top. Fe- 

 male Flowers, on the same, or, according to Micheli, on a 

 distinct plant. Calix: none, except a vesicular cavity within 

 the substance of the leaf. Corolla: none. Pistil: germeu 

 turbinate; style filiform, erect, reaching the surface of the 

 IVond, or exceeding it: stigma simple. Pericarp: capsule 

 sessile, globular, one-celled, at the apex of the leaves ciowned 

 with the style. Seeds: very many, (twenty to thirty,) hemi- 

 spherical. Linneus has five species natives of Europe, and 

 Ur. Withering the same number natives of Great Britain; 

 but as they are not of sufficient consequence to be detailed 

 here, the reader is referred, for particular descriptions, to 

 their works. 



Rice. See Oryza. 



Richardia; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 six-parted, erect, acuminate, shorter by half than the corolla. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, cylindrical, fuuuel-shaped ; border 



