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SAXIFRAGACEAE. 



RIBES. Currant. Gooseberry. 

 ( Family Saxif ragaceae ) . 



Loosely branching shrubs with 

 rather quickly shredding epider- 

 mis: chiefly deciduous. Twigs 

 terete but decurrently ridged from 

 the nodes, moderately slender, 

 sometimes prickly, the prickles be- 

 neath the leaf-scars often triple 

 and enlarged: pith relatively 

 large, pale, round, becoming 

 spongy. Buds rather small, soli- 

 tary, sessile or mostly becoming 

 short-stalked, ovoid or subfusi- 

 form, with about half-a-dozen 

 rather loose scales. Leaf-scars al- 

 ternate, U-shaped or broadly and 

 often angularly crescent-shaped, 

 slightly raised: bundle-traces 3: 

 stipule-scars lacking. 



Ribes, as accepted here, is often 

 divided into two genera, the 

 gooseberries being separated un- 

 der the name Grossularia. Apart from their frequent pro- 

 duction of prickles, gooseberries are usually distinguished 

 from currants in winter by their narrower leaf-scars. 



Ribes alpinum, which is planted frequently in shrubbery 

 masses and resembles a dwarf ninebark, may be distinguished 

 from Physocarpus very readily by its narrow leaf-scars, dis- 

 tinctly stalked buds, and spongy pith. 



Winter-character references: Ribes alpinum. Bosemann, 

 48; Fant, f. 13; Schneider, f. 180; Willkomm, 30, f. 38. R. 

 americanum. Brendel, pi. 3. R, aureum. Schneider, f. 180. 

 R. fasciculatum. Shirasawa, 231, pi. 1. R. Gordonianum. 

 Schneider, f. 181. R. gracile. Hitchcock (3), 15, (4), 137, f. 



