SAXIFRAGACEAE 



SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 



MISSOURI GOOSEBERRY 



Ribes gracile Michx. 



This is a shrub ot dry or rocky soil from Michigan and 

 Indiana to South Dakota, south to Tennessee and Oklahoma. 

 It grows up to 4 >^ feet and usually has 1-3 spines at each node 

 on the stem. The young 

 branches are white or 

 whitish and often covered 

 with prickles. 



The white or greenish 

 white, epigynous flowers 

 appear in April or May in 

 inverted clusters on stalks 

 which are usually some- 

 what hairy and gland 

 bearing. The calyx con- 

 sists of 5 long lobes and a 



short tube on the throat <f^^^^5^'^-._k\ v, FTv^^ r 



of which the 5 small 

 petals are inserted. The 5 

 stamens alternate with 

 the petals and have long 

 threadlike filaments^ The 

 1 long styles are somewhat united. The fruit matures from July 

 to September as a smooth, purplish, many-seeded and edible 

 berry. The tips which are picked from the fruits are the ends of 

 the sepals, as the Gooseberry is the fleshy calyx enclosing the 

 ovary and seeds. 



The Prickly Gooseberry, Ribes Cynosbati L., which is quite 

 common in central and northern Illinois, has greenish flowers in 

 which stamens and style are not longer than the bell-shaped calyx, 

 and the fruits are armed with long prickles. Rocky woods are 

 the choice of this Gooseberry, from western Maine to the mountains 

 of North Carolina, west to Manitoba and Missouri. 



The Currants, both wild and cultivated, are closely related to 

 the Gooseberries. They may be distinguished by the absence of 

 spines at the nodes, and by the flower clusters, which are elongated 

 racemes with several flowers instead of only 1-4 as in the Goose- 

 berries. Our commonest wild Currant is the Wild Black Currant, 

 Ribes floridum L'Her., which has rather large yellowish flowers 

 in April and May. This plant ranges from New Brunswick to 

 Saskatchewan and southwestward. 



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