GROSSULARIACE^E GOOSEBERRY 



FAMILY 



PRICKLY WILD GOOSEBERRY. DOGBERRY 



Ribes cynosbati. 



Ribes, of uncertain origin, the name of a plant supposed 

 by the older botanists to be the Gooseberry ; possibly from 

 riebs, a German popular name for the currant. 



A fine bush, three to four feet high, found in rocky woods 

 from New Brunswick to North Carolina and west to Manitoba 

 and Missouri. Thrives in all soils and exposures. Stems un- 

 armed or prickly. 



Leaves. Alternate, often fascicled, three to five-lobed, nearly 

 orbicular, one to two inches broad, heart-shaped at base, irregu- 

 larly serrate or crenate ; palmately veined, primary and second- 

 ary veins depressed above, very prominent beneath. They come 

 out in clusters of three or four from a single bud ; plicate, bright 

 green, densely covered with white hairs ; when full grown are 

 bright green above, paler green beneath. In autumn they turn 

 an orange, slightly touched with red, or drop with little change. 

 Petioles slender, downy with glandular hairs. A sharp, slender, 

 reddish brown spine is usually found just below the leaf cluster ; 

 sometimes two or three are together, sometimes none. Fre- 

 quently spines are scattered along the stem ; prickles are few or 

 weak or none. 



Flowers. April to June. Perfect, produced from the same 

 bud as the cluster of leaves, solitary, or two to three in a group, 

 bell-shaped, green, small, rich in nectar ; peduncles slender, 

 pubescent. 



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