300 



GOLDEN CURRANT 



GOOSEBERRIES 



leaves, and still others with variegated foliage. 

 None of these botanical divisions is of especial 

 interest to pomologists, who are concerned 

 only with a dozen or more horticultural 

 varieties derived from the type species. 



This black currant is a native of Europe and 

 north and central Asia. The American black, 

 R. americanum, is similar to R. nigrum in 

 plant and fruit, but differs much in the flower; 

 it is found from Nova Scotia to Virginia and 

 westward to the Rocky Mountains, furnishing 

 wild fruit to those who care to pick it. Were 

 it not for the cultivated black currant from 

 Europe, this native species might well be do- 

 mesticated. The European black currant is a 

 fruit of modern times, its culture dating back 

 not more than two centuries. The more 

 northern the latitude, the higher the esteem 

 in which it is held. 



GOLDEN CURRANT 



5. Ribes odoratum, Wendl. Golden Currant. Buffalo 

 Currant. Missouri Currant. A spineless shrub attain- 

 ing a height of 10 feet, young branches pubescent. 

 Leaves 3 to 5 lobed, coarsely dentate, glabrous, ovate, 

 rarely cordate, 1-3 inches broad ; petioles pubescent, 

 shorter than the blade. Flowers golden yellow, fra- 

 grant, borne in 5-8 flowered racemes ; tube % inch 

 long, stout ; sepals half as long as the tube, spreading 

 or revolute ; petals half as long as sepals, more or less 

 red. Fruit round or ovate, yellow or black, % inch in 

 diameter. 



The habitat of this species is banks of 

 streams, from Minnesota to Missouri and 

 Arkansas and westward. The golden currant 

 is just coming under cultivation, but one va- 

 riety, the Crandall, introduced in 1888, being 

 commonly found in gardens. Three or four 

 other sorts of less repute are occasionally to 

 be found. 



GOOSEBERRIES 



6. Ribes Grossularia, Linn. European Gooseberry. 

 An upright, or spreading, seldom drooping shrub 2-4 

 feet high ; spines many, mostly in 3's, variable in 

 length and stoutness, sometimes bristly. Leaves cordate 

 to broadly cuneate, pubescent or glabrous, rather thick, 

 1-3 inches broad, crenate or dentate, 3-5 lobed. Flowers 

 solitary, rarely 2 ; ovary pubescent or often glandular ; 

 calyx-tube campanulate, its lobes oblong, pubescent ; 

 styles pubescent. Fruit %-l inch in diameter, round, 

 ovate, or oblong, smooth or pubescent, sometimes 

 glandular or bristly, green, yellow or red. 



The original form of the cultivated Euro- 

 pean gooseberry is found in Europe, North 

 Africa, and the Caucasus. In this vast region 

 there are several botanical varieties, but the 

 cultivated gooseberries seem to have been de- 

 rived from the type form. While cultivated 

 somewhat on the continent, this fruit belongs 

 almost wholly to Great Britain, where several 

 hundred varieties have been introduced in 

 England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. There 

 are but few places in America where the species 

 thrives, as the climate is uncongenial and the 

 gooseberry mildew proves a veritable scourge. 

 There are now, however, a number of hybrids 

 between this species and the American goose- 

 berry which promise much for American po- 

 mology. 



The gooseberry is not mentioned by ancient 

 agricultural writers, and seems to have first 

 come into prominence as a cultivated plant in 

 England. Tusser, the farmer-poet, mentions 

 it in 1557. Turner, the English herbalist, 

 writes of it in 1573; as does Gerard in 1597; 

 and Parkinson, in 1629, names eight varieties. 

 For the last two hundred years, the gooseberry 

 seems to have been the fruit of fruits in 

 England, and many societies have been or- 

 ganized to bring it to its best estate, and many 

 voluminous articles and books have been de- 

 voted to its culture. 



7. Ribes hirtellum, Michx. American Gooseberry. 

 A shrub 3-5 feet high ; branches slender, drooping, un- 

 armed or armed with small spines at the base of shoots 

 or with few or many whitish prickles. Leaves broader 

 than long, rather thin, 1-2 inches broad, dentate or 

 crenate-dentate, cuneate at the base, incisely 3-5 lobed, 

 more or less pubescent underneath, with some glandular 

 hair on the petiole. Flowers 1-3, borne on very short 

 peduncles and pedicels ; ovary glabrous ; calyx-tube 

 campanulate ; sepals greenish or purplish, glabrous ; 

 petals whitish, half as long as sepals ; style pubescent. 

 Fruit % inch in diameter, round, ovate, or oblong ; 

 skin smooth ; greenish, purple or black. 



This species is found wild from Newfound- 

 land to Maryland and West Virginia, and west- 

 ward nearly to the Rocky Mountains. There 

 are several American garden varieties which 

 are undoubtedly pure-bred varieties of this 

 species, of which Pale Red is best known. 

 Downing and Houghton, leading varieties of 

 gooseberries, are hybrids between this and 

 the European species. Until recently it was 

 thought that R. oxyacanthoides, Linn., was the 

 parent of the score or more American goose- 

 berries, but these are now all put in this 

 species, or as hybrids of this and the foregoing, 

 with a few exceptions to be noted. R. Cynos- 

 bati, Linn., R. inerme, Rydb., R. setosum, 

 Lindl. and R. missouriensis, Nutt., are all rep- 

 resented, either as hybrids or pure-breds, 

 among American gooseberries. These and 

 possibly still other native species offer much 

 for the plant-breeder. All of the native species 

 named should be hybridized with the European 

 gooseberry, which bears a much larger, hand- 

 somer, and better-flavored fruit, in order to 

 produce varieties capable of withstanding the 

 varied climate and soil conditions of the sev- 

 eral native species. 



Wild gooseberries were used by the Indians 

 before Europeans came to the New World, as 

 they are now by the tribes in the West and 

 North. Trappers and early settlers have al- 

 ways used the fruit. But, while the first set- 

 tlers from England brought the European 

 gooseberry with them, cnly to fail in its cul- 

 ture, none tried the native species in the garden 

 until the nineteenth century was well ad- 

 vanced. In 1833, Abel Houghton, Lynn, 

 Massachusetts, planted several English varie- 

 ties near a plant from the woods. Seeds were 

 saved from fruit of this native, and from it 

 came the Houghton, which, however, was not 

 disseminated until 1848. The domestication 

 of the native gooseberry has, therefore, taken 

 place within less than one hundred years. 



