THE AMERICAN BLACK CU It BANT 481 



B. Palmeri, V. & R., may belong here. I have neither had 

 access to the description nor specimens, but imperfect specimens 

 fn the herbarium of the Missouri Botanic Garden, labeled Pal- 

 meri, have been referred to tortuosum. 



47. R. Americanum, Mill. B. floridum. L' Her. Wild Black 



Currant. (Fig. 107.) 



Bush low and spreading, 2-5 feet (6-15 decimeters) high; 

 branches long and somewhat drooping, slightly angular; leaves 

 sharply 3-5-lobed, the lobes acute, coarsely and doubly serrate, 

 bearing bright yellow resinous dots, few on the upper, many on 

 the lower side, scarcely pubescent except the petioles and veins 

 beneath; racemes long, pendulous, many-flowered; peduncles, 

 bracts and pedicels downy-pubescent without glandular-tipped 

 hairs, bracts linear, longer than the pedicels; flowers greenish 

 white or yellow, /^-% inch (6-10 mm.) long; calyx tube bell- 

 shaped or gradually broadening, barely pubescent, but not resinous, 

 dotted; lobes large, obovate, pubescent, but thin, petal-like; 

 petals and stamens nearly as long as the calyx lobes; ovary 

 smooth; fruit medium sized, roundish oval, smooth, black, simi- 

 lar to the European black currant in flavor. 



Nova Scotia and New England, south to Virginia, and west- 

 ward to Colorado and Manitoba. 



This species is seldom cultivated, but apparently deserves to 

 be. It forms a graceful, spreading bush, with luxuriant light 

 green foliage and long drooping racemes. Dippel,* under the 

 name B. interfnedmni, describes a hybrid between this species 

 and B. nigrum, which has long been in cultivation in Bohemian 

 gardens. 



48. R. MoGOLLONiGUM, Greene. 



This is described as follows :t " Glabrous and sparingly glandu- 

 lar, 6-10 feet (18-30 decimeters) high; leaves 1-3 inches (2.5- 

 7.5 cm.) wide, 5-lobed; the lobes triangular, doubly serrate; 

 petioles one inch long; racemes few-flowered, subcapitate, on 

 erect peduncles which surpass the petioles; bracts rhombic-ovate, 

 the lowest somewhat spatulate, their margins glandular; flowers 

 small; ovaries clothed with stalked glands; calyx-tube very short; 

 sepals ovdte-oblong, campanulate-spreading, greenish and marked 

 with dark green or purplish veins; petals white, spatulate, very 

 small; berry smooth, black, edible." 



*Handbuch der Laubholzkunde, 3:296. 

 tBull. Torrey Bot. Club, 8:121. 

 EE 



