Varieties of Gooseberries 317 



varieties, the variety Mountain being the only one of 

 prominence known to have been derived in part from this 

 species. The prickly character of the fruit is against it, 

 but smooth-fruited forms occur and the fruit is larger than 

 that of R. hirtellum. 



Ribes setosum, Lindl. and R. inerme, Rydb. are believed 

 to be sparingly represented in cultivation. The former 

 appears to be a gradation 

 species of a series begin- 

 ning with R. hirtellum in 

 the East, R. oxyacan- 

 thoides of the Plains, R. 

 setosum, from northwest- 

 ern Nebraska west and 

 northward and R. irri- 

 guum, of the Pacific slope. 



Ribes missouriense, 

 Nutt., the fragile-flowered 

 gooseberry of the Plains, 

 more commonly known as 

 R. gracile (Fig. 45), is a 

 promising species for that . /v./x 



Fig. 45. Ribes missounense (XVs). 



region and has been 



largely used in plant-breeding work at the South Dakota 

 Experiment Station in seeking to develop varieties better 

 adapted to the northern Plains region. This species and 

 the form commonly known as R. rotundifolium have also 

 been used by W. F. Vanfleet in producing hybrids in the 

 East, with promising results. (" Rural New Yorker", 

 1907:622.) 

 The European species (Ribes Grossularia) has been long 



