276 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS, 



The cultivation of the cochineal, which was unfavour- 

 able to the production of the fruit,^ is dying out since the 

 manufacture of colouring matters by chemical processes. 



Gooseberry — Ribes grossularia and Jt. Vacrispa,- 

 Linnseus. 



The fruit of the cultivated varieties is generally 

 smooth, or provided with a few stiff hairs, while that of 

 the wild varieties has soft and shorter hairs ; but inter- 

 mediate forms exist, and it has been shown by experi- 

 ment that by sowing the seeds of the cultivated fruit, 

 plants with either smooth or hairy fruit are obtained.^ 

 There is, therefore, but one species, which has produced 

 under cultivation one principal variety and several sub- 

 varieties as to the size, colour, or taste of the fruit. 



The gooseberry grows wild throughout temperate 

 Europe, from Southern Sweden to the mountainous 

 regions of Central Spain, of Italy, and of Greece.* It is 

 also mentioned in Northern Africa, but the last published 

 catalogue of Algerian plants* indicates it only in the 

 mountains of Aures, and Ball has found a variety in 

 the Atlas of Marocco.^ It grows in the Caucasus,* and 

 under more or less different forms in the western 

 Himalayas.'^ 



The Greeks and Romans do not mention the species, 

 which is rare in the South, and which is hardly worth 

 planting where grapes will ripen. It is especially in 

 Germany, Holland, and England that it has been culti- 

 vated from the sixteenth century,* principally as a 

 seasoning, whence the English name, and the French 

 groseille cb maquereaux (mackerel currant). A wine 

 is also made from it. 



The frequency of its cultivation in the British Isles 

 and in other places where it is found wild, which are 



' Webb and Berthelot, Phytog. Canar., vol. iii. sect. 1, p. 208 



' Eobson, quoted in English Botany, pi. 2057, 



" Nyman, Conspectus Fl. Europew, p. 266 j Boissier, M. Or., ii. p. 815. 



' Munby, GataJ:, edit. 2, p. 15. 



' Bali, Spicilegium Fl. Maroc, p. 449. 



• Ledebour, Fl. Boss., ii. p. 194 ; Boisaier, ubi eupra, 



' Clarke, in Hooker's Fl. Brit. Ind., ii. p. 410, 



' Phillips, Account nf Fruits, p. 174, 



