Varieties of Currants 



301 



good qualities of the Euro- 

 pean plant and is more or- 

 namental. In recent years 

 this species has received some 

 attention from plant- 

 breeders, notably 

 Hansen of South 

 Dakota, in his effort 

 to breed hardier ' 

 fruits for the North- 

 west. It cannot yet 

 be considered a po- 

 mological species. 



An American 

 black currant of- 

 tener seen in culti- 

 vation is the Mis- 

 souri or flowering 

 currant, now given 

 the botanical name 

 R. odoratum, Wendl., but much 

 better known under the errone- 

 ous name R. aureum. This is 

 native to the eastern slopes of 

 the Rocky Mountains. The 

 better-known name R. aureum 

 is now confined to a smaller- Fi s- 41 - R^eanigrum (X 2 /0- 

 flowered species more commonly found west of the Rocky 

 Mountains. The fruit of this black currant is very differ- 

 ent from that of the two preceding species. It is often 

 large, but produced in few-flowered clusters, and ripens 



