GKOSSULARIACE^E. 41 



oblong-rhomboidal, acute, inciso-serrato. Flowers dioecious, race- 

 mose; racemes erect in flower and fruit, those with male flowers 

 20- to 30-flowered, those with female 2- to 10-flowered. Rachis 

 and pedicels glandular-pubescent. Bracts strap-shaped, longer 

 than the pedicels. Calyx glabrous ; limb spreading and nearly 

 flat ; the tube oblong-ovoid in the female flowers. Berries red, 

 insipid. 



In woods. Truly indigenous in the lower part of the western 

 dales in Yorkshire, and said also to be wild in the counties of 

 Warwick, Stafford ? Nottingham, Glamorgan, Durham, and the 

 Lake district. It also occurs in several of the Scotch counties, 

 but has little claims to be considered native in them. 



England, [Scotland]. Shrub. Spring. 



A bush 2 to 3 feet high, with numerous slender branches 

 with ash-coloured bark. Leaves appearing a little before the 

 flowers, with the petiole shorter than the lamina, whicb is 1} to 

 2 inches across when full grown, with the lohes narrowly rhom- 

 boidal, deeply inciso-serrate, usually 3 in number, but sometimes 

 with a smaller one at the base on each side, in which case the 

 leaf hecomes sub-cordate instead of broadly wedge-shaped or abrupt 

 at the base, which is the more common form. Racemes of the female 

 flowers 1 to 1| inch long, of the male 2 to 2^. Flowers ^ inch 

 across, olive-yellow. Calyx-segments oval-oblong, obtuse, 4 times 

 longer than the petals. Style very short, scarcely cleft. Fruit ^ 

 inch in diameter. Plant glabrous when mature, except the upper 

 surface and margins of the leaves, which have distant hairs. Leaves 

 deep-green above, paler and shining beneath. 



Tasteless Motmtain Currant. 



French, Groseille des Alpes. German, Geblrgs Johannisbeere. 



The common name Currant is one transferred from the small grape brought from 

 Corinth, and thence called Uva Corinthiaca, to the fruits of several species of Ribes. 

 The fruit of this species has an insipid sweetish taste in its wild state, and is only agree- 

 able to the omnivorous appetites of children, who gather it with avidity. The wood, 

 being hard and tough, makes good teeth for rakes. Cows, goats, sheep, and horses eat 

 the leaves. 



SPECIES III— RIB ES RUB RUM. Linn. 



Plates DXX. DXXT. DXXII. 



Branches unarmed. Leaves scentless, angular, 5-lobed, more or 



less hairy when young, glabrous or downy beneath when mature ; 



segments ovate-triangular or deltoid, blunt, irregularly crenate- 



serrate. Flowers perfect, racemose. Racemes stalked, many-flow- 



VOL. IV. G 



