180 HOW TO KNOW WILD FRUITS 



to North Carolina. It extends west to Manitoba 

 and Missouri. 



WILD BLACK CURRANT 



Ribes floridum Gooseberry Family 



Fruit. The drooping racemes bear smooth, 

 black, round-ovoid berries with a linear bract at 

 the base of each pedicel. The dried calyx is at 

 the top of each fruit. Each berry is many- 

 seeded, with the seeds attached by tiny threads 

 to two opposite lateral placentae. The fruit is 

 watery and insipid. July, August. 



Leaves. Tiny resinous dots on the leaves 

 are characteristic. The five to seven lobes of 

 each leaf are doubly toothed. 



Flowers. The large whitish flowers grow in 

 drooping, loosely-flowered, bracted, and downy 

 racemes. 



This shrub is erect, and reaches a height of 

 from three to five feet. It is found in woods 

 from Nova Scotia south to Virginia and west to 

 Kentucky, Iowa, and Nebraska. 



