The Flowering Currants 



This shrub may grow to a height of ten feet. It 

 is remarkable for the number of varieties under which 

 it is known. Thus in one, perhaps the finest of all 

 R. s. splendens there are large clusters of the deepest, 

 richest crimson; in R. s. atrorubens, though the colour 

 is almost as deep, yet the effect is lightened by each 

 flower having a white centre ; while in R. s. carneum 

 we have washed-out looking clusters of pale pink, 

 though an even paler hue distinguishes the blossom of 

 R. s. albidum, and so on. 



In the Buffalo or Missouri Currant (R. aureum), 

 the flower clusters are a golden-yellow instead of red. 

 In the variety R. a. prcecox they are extra large, and 

 the petals are red-tipped and the sepals turned right 

 back. It flowers at the same time as the ordinary red 

 species, and is a most effective shrub. It is a native 

 of the United States, and was first seen in England in 

 1812, though until lately it has not been greatly cul- 

 tivated. 



The Fuchsia Flowering Currant, R. speciosum 

 (sometimes and perhaps better known as R. fuchsioides\ 

 is particularly interesting because its flowers, which 

 hang from the inner side of the branches in twos and 

 threes (and not in dense clusters), are curiously like 

 miniature fuchsia blossoms. There is a red tube 

 composed of sepals and petals, and hanging far beyond 

 it are the stamens with long red filaments and purple 



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