166 



GOOSEBERRY. GROSSULARI A . 



Natural order, Pomacea. A genus of the Pentandria 

 Monogynia class. 



THE gooseberry, which is now so much and so justly 

 esteemed, is a native of Europe ; and as it grew in the 

 woods and hedges about Darlington, and in Cambridge- 

 shire, Norfolk, and other counties, in the wild state, we 

 consider it indigenous to this country, although Dr. Smith 

 and Miller both entertained doubts of its being truly so. 

 It appears not to have been known to the ancients, either 

 in Greece or Rome, as their authors have made no men- 

 tion of it ; the generic name of Grossularia has been 

 given to it by later writers, on account of its resembling 

 the Grossos, small green figs ; but it is noticed by the 

 earliest naturalists who have written in this country, not- 

 withstanding it was a fruit much neglected, according to 

 Allioni's account, who says, " they are eatable, but 

 somewhat astringent." Gerard says, " it is called fea- 

 berry-bush, in Cheshire, my native country," and we find 

 that it had the same name in Lancashire and Yorkshire. 

 In Norfolk it was abbreviated into feabes. It appears to 

 have taken the name of gooseberry f from its being used as 

 a sauce for young or green geese. 



Culpepper, who was a Sussex author, tells us that they 

 were called dewberries in that county, and in some places 

 wineberry. We learn from Tusser, that this fruit had 



