XXXII. GROSSULA CE^ : RIBES. 



469 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous; lobed or cut, plaited 

 while in the bud. Floivers greemsh white, yellow, or red ; very rarel}' uni- 

 sexual. There is one bractea at the base of each pedicel, which is cut more 

 or less ; and two much smaller ones, called bracteoles, under each ovarium. 

 Unarmed or spiny shrubs ; natives of Europe, Asia, and North America ; 

 two of which (the common currant and gooseberry) are well known in 

 British gardens, for their valuable fiuits. 



Many of the sorts here set down as species are, we have no doul)t, only 

 varieties ; but, as we are not able to refer these to their aboriginal forms, we 

 have followed the usual authorities, and more especially the nomenclature 

 adopted in the Horticultural Society's Garden. All the species of Rlbes 

 strike root readily from cuttings ; and grow freely in any soil that is tolerably 

 dry ; but, as they are only ligneous in a subordinate degree, and are but of a 

 temporary duration under any circum-;tances, they require to be grown in dug 

 beds or borders, and are, therefore, more fitted for scientific collections or 

 flower-borders, than for general shrubberies, undug arboretums, or lawns. 

 Tlic most showy species are Rlbes sanguineum and aureum, and their varieties. 

 R. speciosum has a singular fuchsia-like appearance when in blossom ; and R. 

 multiflorum, though the flowers are greenish, is remarkably elegant, on ac- 

 count of the long many-flowered racemes in which they are disposed. 



i. Grossularice Ach. Rich. Gooseberries. 



Synonymes. Groseiller a Maquereau, Fr.; Stachclbeere Strauch, G^r. ; Kxmshes, Dutch ; Uva 

 Spina, Hal. ; and GroscUa, Span. 



Sect. Char., Sfc. Stems, in most instances, prickly. Leaves plaited. Flowers 

 in racemes ; 1,2, or 3, in a raceme. Calyx more or less bell-shaped. {Dec. 

 Prod., iii. p. 478.) Shrubs with prickles; and with the leaves and fruit 

 more or less resembling those of the common gooseberry. 



1. R. 



A. Flowers greenish white. 

 OxYACANTHoiDES L. The Rawthom-leaved Gooseberry. 



Identification 



Midiaux. 

 Engravings. Mem. Soc 



M- 842. 



Pursh Sept., 2. p. 165. ; Berlandier in Mem. Soc. Phys. Gen., 3. pars 2., not c 

 Pliys. Gen., 3. pars 2. t. 1. f. 1. ; Dill. Elth., t. 139. p. 166.; and our 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Infra-axillary prickles 

 larger, and mostly solitary ; smaller 

 prickles scattered here and there. 

 Leaves glabrous, their lobes dentate, 

 their petioles villous, and a little hisjiid. 

 Peduncles short, bearing 1 2 flowers. 

 Berry globose, glabrous, pur[)lish blue. 

 {Dec. Prod.) A prickly shrub. Canada, 

 on rocks. Height 2 ft. to 3 ft. In- 

 troduced in 1705. Flowers greenish ; 

 April. Fruit small, red and green, or 

 purplish blue; ripe in August; and 

 agreeable to eat. 



This shrub varies much in the number 

 and colour of its prickles, and its more 

 or less dense ramification and pubes- 

 cence. The fruit resembles that of the 

 common gooseberry. It is not common in British gardens, the R. oxya- 

 canthdides of Michaux {R. lacustre Poir.) being diflTerent from it. Perhaps 

 It IS only one of the wild states of the common gooseberry ; which varies so 

 very much when in a state of culture, that it is reasonable" to suppose that it 

 will vary much also in a wild state. 



H H 3 



oxyacanthOides. 



