EUROPEAN BLACK CURRANT 



473 



resinous dots; leaves large, 3-9 inches 

 (8-25 cm.) in diameter, 5-7 cleft, the 

 lobes ovate or narrower, acute or acumi- 

 nate, coarsely and doubly serrate, the 

 upper side rough, hairy, with scattered 

 resinous dots, under side smooth, with 

 dots numerous ; petioles long ; 

 racemes erect or ascending, 

 sometimes terminal, many- 

 flowered, 4-8 inches (10-20 

 cm.) long, in fruit often much 

 longer and loose ; bracts per- 

 sistent, filiform to spatulate, 

 or the lower foliaceous and 

 petiolate, sometimes passing 

 into leaves; pedicels erect, 

 pubescent ; flowers greenish 

 white or yellowish purple, 

 inconspicuous ; calyx-lobes 

 roundish or oval; stamens 

 short; style 2 -cleft; berry 

 black, resinous, dotted, % 

 inch (8 mm.) in diameter, re- 

 sembling B. nigrum in flavor. 

 Northern California to Sitka. 



39. E. NIGRUM, Linn. Euro- 

 pean Black Currant. 

 (Fig. 100.) 



Upright shrub, with thick, 

 grayish branches; leaves heart-shaped, 

 3-5-lobed, or incised, coarsely serrate, 

 the teeth mucronate, sometimes broader 

 than long, the under side sprinkled with 

 minute bright yellow resinous dots ; pet- 

 iole long, slender, minutely pubescent; 

 racemes drooping, 5-10-flowered, bracts 

 minute; pedicels short; flowers greenish 

 white, short and broad ; calyx -tube 

 broadly urn-shaped, pubescent and res- 

 inous dotted; lobes small, oval, thick 

 and greenish ; petals and stamens nearly 



as long as the calyx lobes ; ovary pubescent and resinous dotted ; 

 berry round, black, larger than red currant, mawkish flavor. 



Original distribution. Middle and northeastern Europe, through 

 northern Asia to Manchuria and northern China. 



Fig. 100. Ribes nigrum 



