0311 



CURRANT BUSH. 



Family: GROSSULARIACEAE [Translator's note: now in Saxifragaceae]. 

 Reproductive system: PENTANDRY, MONOGYNY. 



The black currant bush, Ribes nigrum, Linn., known to gardeners as cassis or 

 cassier, is a shrub that grows five or six feet tall on an erect, branchy trunk. The leaves 

 are large, petiolate, smooth, irregular, and dentate. Their undersurfaces often are covered 

 with yellow, glandular spots. The flowers are bell-shaped, whitish green or reddish. 

 They're in loose, pendent clusters of about five or six. They're replaced with quite big 

 globular black fruit that has a slightly aromatic flavor. 



RANGE: mountains of the Auvergne and Dauphine. 



NOMENCLATURE. German, bocksbeere, braunebeere. Danish, solbar. English, 

 black currants. Russian, smorodina tschernaja. 



The gooseberry bush, Ribes grossularia, Linn., [Translator's note: also designated 

 Ribes uva-crispa], commonly called groseiller a maquereaux, is a bush about three or 

 four feet high. The stems are supplied with thorns, two or three together, at the base of 

 the leaves. The leaves are petiolate, rounded, crenate, incised, and slightly hairy 

 underneath. The reddish flowers, normally in pairs, are attached to short, pendent 

 peduncles. The ovary, adherent to the calyx, becomes a round berry varying in color and 

 covered with hair. 



There are several varieties; the most notable ones are those with: 1° green fruit, 2° 

 yellow fruit, 3° red fruit. 



FLOWERS: in March and April, like the preceding species. 

 RANGE: hedgerows and woodlands of France. 



NOMENCLATURE. German, stachelbeere, klosterbeere, lausbeere. Danish, 

 krusbar. English, gooseberry. Italian, grispignolo. Russian, krischownik. Polish, agrest. 

 Bohemian, polka. 



The Pennsylvania currant bush, Ribes pensylvanicum, Lam., is a shrub about three 

 feet high, with whitish bark and numerous loose branches. The leaves are quite large, 

 alternate, petiolate, and smooth. They're divided into three lobes that are smooth with 

 serrate margins. 



