474 



BUSH-FRUITS 



The species varies widely, and numerous botanical varieties are 

 noted based on characters of fruit or foliage. Forms occur in 

 which the leaves are deeply slit, or parted to the midrib. In 

 others, the fruit is yellowish green or whitish. 



Extensively cultivated in Europe. The plant emits a strong, 

 peculiar odor when wounded. 

 40. R. CEREUM, Dougl. (Figs. 101, 102.) 



Upright, much-branched shrub, 1-3 feet (3-9 decimeters) high; 

 stem and older branches smooth, gray or brownish; smaller 

 branches short, minutely pubescent, commonly glutinous, becom- 

 ing rough or warty; leaves roundish or kidney shaped, X~l inch 



Fig. 101. Ribes cereum (X%). 



(12-25 mm.) in diameter, somewhat 3-5-lobed, crenately toothed, 

 firm in texture, with minute white waxy dots on one or both sides ; 

 petioles pubescent; racemes short, drooping, compactly 3-5-flow- 

 ered, pubescent, and beset with glandular-tipped hairs which 

 extend to the bracts and ovary; pedicels very short; bracts oval 

 or broad and leaf-like, incised at the tip, closely covering the 

 pedicel and ovary; flowers small; calyx-tube narrow, %-% inch 

 (6-12 mm.) long, somewhat angular, pubescent, nearly white, or 

 pinkish at the base; lobes short, ovate, reflexed; petals minute, 

 orbicular; stamens concealed within the calyx-tube; style slightly 

 exceeding it, 2-parted at the tip; berry of medium size, bright 

 red, somewhat glandular, sweet, but not agreeable. 



From New Mexico northward through the Rocky and Sierra 

 Nevada Mountains to British Columbia. 



The flowers are commonly almost sessile, but a form from 

 Montana has slender pedicels, longer than the bracts (var. pedi- 

 cellare, Gray). 



