Saxifraga.] grossulacb.e. — sAxiFEAGACEiE. 191 



minute bracteas. Br. Fl. p. 151. E. B. t. 1293. R. Uva- 

 crispa, L. : E. B. t. 2057. 



Frequent and truly wild in woods and thickets, with the first species, hut always 

 more sparingly ; less certainly indigenous in hedgerows in the open country. Fl. 

 April, May.' Tj . 



E. Med. — In a hedge exactly opposite the second milestone from Hyde on the 

 road to Brading, and in a few other spots thareahouts, but perhaps brought with 

 quicks when making the hedge. Certainly wild in HuiigerbeiTy wood near 

 Shanklin, and in Knighton West wood near Newchurch. Northland copse by 

 Yaverland, and amonttst the thickest brushwood at East End. Between Shank- 

 lin and Cook's Castle, under the cliff, where, as in many of the above stations, it 

 grows very remote from human habitations, but in all of them sparingly scattered. 

 In several woody places in the Undercliff, certainly wild. In wtf thickets about 

 Wackland. In the shore at the Priory. Cleveland copse, Appuldurcombe. Very 

 common in various places about Knighton mill, Hartsash, &o. Frequent in 

 hedges between Shanklin and Newchurch, Merston, &c. 



W. Med. — -Tolt copse, Gatcombe. About Buccombe, Idlecombe, Shorwell, 

 &;c., with R. rubrum. 



A bushy shrub with blackish bavk, and many straight, irregularly spreading, 

 cinereous branches, armed under each leaf-bud with sharp spines, usually in threes. 

 Leaves in fascicles of about 4 together, roundish, 5-lobed, the lobes cut into seve- 

 ral blunt shallow segments, the 2 upper ones obscurely marked, bright green, soft 

 and pliant, smoothish or more or less hairy, a little shining beneath, \he\x petioles 

 downy with a few long gland-tipped hairs. Flowers solitary or in pairs from the 

 centre of each bundle of leaves, drooping, finally downy like the pedimcles. Calyx 

 bell-shaped, its segments reflexed, ovate, rounded, tinged with brownish red. 

 Petals minute, whitish, erect, cuneato-cordate, entire. Stamens erect, much longer 

 than in the Currant ; Xhevt filaments vihitish \ an(Aers buff-coloured. Styles aboul 

 as long as the stamens, often deeply cloven almost to their bases, very hairy below. 

 Bracts extrerhely variable in size and situation, solitary, in pairs, 3 together,' or 

 none. I find one or two coloured scales sometimes, on the lower part of the calyx- 

 tube, in my specimens, in which the peduncles are mostly 2-flowered, with a usu- 

 ally solitary sheathing bract just below the point of divarication. Fruit rarely 

 seen with us on the wild bush ; in one instance in which I found berries produced 

 they were of a light amber-colour, slightly downy but not hairy, and scarcely 

 exceeding the largest white currants in size. 



Restricted to much more temperate latitudes than the red or black Currant, yet 

 it requires less warmth to bring the fruit to perfection. It is generally thought to 

 be naturalized in this country, and not an aboriginal native ; an opinion that has 

 perhaps arisen from the silence of the older botanists or herbalists respecting it ; 

 neither Gerarde, Parkinson nor Ray mention it as found wild in their time, yet it 

 can hardly be imagined that a shrub universally cultivated then, as at present, 

 should only of late years have evinced a tendency to escape from the garden to 

 the woods.' The finest gooseberries are grown in the North of England and 

 Scotland, where the summers are cool and moist : with us here this fruit has sen- 

 sibly degenerated ; the bushes look stunted, unhealthy, and overgrown with moss, 

 whilst the currant attains in these parts a superior size and flavour. 



Order XXXIV. SAXIFRAGACE^, Juss. 



" Calyx of 4 — 5 sepals, or united into a tube which is wholly 

 or In part adnata with the ovary. Petals 4 — 5, or 0. Stamens 

 5 — 10, distinct, perigynous or somewhat hypogynous. Ovary 

 with usually 2 diverging persistent styles, S-celled with an axile 

 placenta, or 1-celled with parietal placentas. Capsule 2-valved. 



