192 



GROSSULARIACEAE. 



[VOL. II. 



13. Ribes aureum Pursh. Golden, Buffalo or Missouri Currant. (Fig. 1877.) 



Kibes aureum Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 164. 1814. 



Unarmed. Petioles rather slender, pubescent, at 

 least when young; leaves convolute in the bud, 

 pubescent and ciliate, or at length glabrous, often 

 broader than long, thick, 3-lobed or sometimes 5- 

 lobed, broadly cuneate or truncate at the base, the 

 lobes obtuse, few-toothed or entire; racemes leafy - 

 bracted, few-flowered; flowers bright yellow, spicy- 

 scented, 6 // -i2 // long; calyx-tube cylindric, gla- 

 brous, 3-4 times as long as the oval spreading lobes; 

 stamens slightly exserted; fruit yellow, becoming 

 black, glabrous, 3 // ~5 // in diameter. 



Along: streams, Minnesota to Missouri and Texas, west 

 to California, Oregon and the Northwest Territory. 

 Common in cultivation. April-May. 



Ribes aureum chrysococcum Rydb. Fl. Neb. ax: 71. 1895, 

 is a form with the fruit yellow when mature, found in 

 western Nebraska. 



Family 41. HAMAMELIDACEAE Lindl. \ V-. Kin^d. 784. 1847. 



WITCH HA/.I-:I, FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate petioled simple leaves, and perfect or poly- 

 gamous flowers, variously clustered. Perianth often imperfect, or sometimes 

 none. Calyx-tube, when present, more or less adnate to the ovary, its limb 

 truncate or 5-lobed. Petals, when present, 4-*, perigynous. Stamens 4-00, 

 perigynous; filaments distinct. Disk circular or none. Ovary compound, of 2 

 carpels united below, 2-celled; styles 2, subulate, erect or recurved; ovules i-oo. 

 Fruit a 2-celled 2-beaked woody or cartilaginous capsule, dehiscent at the sum 

 mil. Seeds i-several, anatropous; embryo large; endosperm scanty. 



About 15 genera and 35 species, natives of North America, Asia and South Africa. 

 Ovules i in each cell; flowers perfect or polygamous; shrubs or small ttees; fruit iiut spiny. 



I lowers white, in catkin like spikes; petals none. i FotkCTfitta. 



Flowers yellow, in axillary clusters; petals long. 2. ffanittniflis. 



Ovules several in each cell; flowers monoecious; large trees; fruit globular, spiny, . 



i. FOTHERGLLA Murr. Syst. Veg. 418. 1774. 



Shrubs, the foliage somewhat stellate-pubescent. Leaves alternate, obovate. Flowers 

 perfect, or often polygamous (sometimes monoecious) in catkin -like bracted terminal spikes, 

 appearing a little before the leaves. Calyx campaiiulate, slightly 5-7-lobed. Petals none. 

 Stamens about 24, inserted on the edge of the calyx; anthers subglobose. Ovary 2-celled; 

 styles slender; ovules i in each cell. Capsule cartilaginous, 2-celled, 2-seedcd. Seeds bony, 

 pendulous. [Named for Dr. John Fothergill 1712-1780, an English naturalist.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. ^ 



x. Fothergilla Carolina (L.) Britton. 

 Fothergilla. (Fig. 1878.) 



Hamamelis I'irginiana Carolina L,. Mant. 333. 



1771. 



Fothergilla Gardeni Murr. Syst. Veg. 418. 1774. 

 Fothergilla alnifolia I y . f. Suppl. 267. 1781. 

 F. Carolina Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 180. 1894. 



A shrub, 2-$ high, the young twigs densely 

 stellate-pubescent. Leaves short-petioled, 2'- 

 3' long, obovate or broadly oval, obtuse or 

 short- pointed at the apex, rounded or narrowed 

 at the base, usually inequilateral, coarsely deu- 

 tate-crenate above the middle, or entire, more or 

 less stellate-pubescent; spikes dense, erect, i'- 

 2' long; bracts densely pubescent, the lower 

 ones sometimes lobed; stamens white or pink- 

 ish, 2 // ~4 // long; capsule very pubescent. 



In wet grounds, Virginia to Georgia. April. 



