Pink to Red Flowers 217 



capitate or somewhat elongated cluster which is frequently 

 bulblet-bearing. 



SKUNK CURRANT 



Ribes laxiflorum. Saxifrage Family 



Stems: caespitose, erect or ascending. Leaves: triangular, truncate or 

 cordate at the base, deeply five-lobed, doubly serrate. Flowers: five to 

 fifteen flowered, raceme finely pubescent, calyx rotate, lobes broadly spat- 

 ulate. Fruit: a berry. 



The stems of this Currant are spineless, and the leaves are 

 deeply five-lobed, doubly toothed and frequently "resinous- 

 dotted beneath, they grow on long stalks abruptly dilated at 

 the base. The dull pinkish-red flowers have a rotate calyx 

 with broad spatulate lobes and narrow spatulate petals, and 

 the fruit is a purple-black berry covered with a whitish 

 bloom. Altogether this plant, which grows in wet shady 

 places, is a handsome species, and it is, moreover, well 

 named, because if you bruise the stems or leaves they emit 

 a strong skunk-like odour, while the berries themselves are 

 also extremely nasty to the taste. 



PINK SPIR^A 



Spircca dcnsiflora. Rose Family 



Stems: reddish-brown. Leaves: ovate to elliptic, serrulate at the 

 apex, entire below, narrowed to a very short petiole. Flowers: small 

 in dense leafy-bracted corymbs terminating the branches. Fruit: five 

 carpels distinct, not inflated, seeds small linear with thin membranaceous 

 testa. 



The reddish-brown stems of this Spinea, which are ex- 

 tremely brittle, shed their thin bark annually. The elliptical 

 leaves are dark green on both sides, minutely toothed at the 

 apex and even-margined towards the base which is nar- 

 rowed into a short stalk. The tiny rose-red flowers are 



