WILD BLACK CURRANT 



bush is found in Europe, Asia and America. With us 

 Rides rubrum inhabits a belt extending across the con- 

 tinent from Labrador to Alaska, and southward to 

 New Jersey, Indiana and Minnesota. In New England 

 and the Middle States, however, the wild currant bush 

 by the roadside is much more likely to be an escape 

 from the gardens than a direct member of the ancient 

 line. 



WILD BLACK CURRANT 



Rlbcs flo> iduni. Ribes americanum. 



Erect, three to five feet high. Ranges from Nova Scotia to 

 Manitoba, and southward to Kentucky, Iowa and Nebraska. 



Leaves. — Alternate or clustered, three to five-lobed, nearly or- 

 bicular, two to three and one-half inches wide, palmately veined, 

 heart-shaped at base, glabrous above, downy and resinous-dotted 

 beneath ; lobes coarsely dentate-serrate, depressed above, ridged 

 below. They come out of the bud plicate, pale green and 

 downy ; when full grown are bright green above, paler beneath. 

 In autumn they take on a deep bronze, or fall with little change 

 of color. 



Flowers. — April, May. Perfect, greenish white or yellow, 

 bell-shaped, three-eighths to one-fourth of an inch long, borne 

 in pendulous, loosely-flowered, downy racemes, which appear 

 from the same buds as the leaves. 



Calyx. — Calyx-tube bell-shaped, coherent with the ovary, 

 border four to five-lobed ; lobes short, rounded, petaloid, green- 

 ish white. 



Corolla. — Petals four to five, inserted on the throat of the 

 calyx, greenish white. 



Stamens. — Four to five, inserted on the throat of the calyx, 

 alternate with the petals, included. 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior, one-celled ; styles two. 



Fntit. — Berry, globose-ovoid, black, smooth, one-fourth of an 

 inch in diameter ; crowned with the remnant of a calyx. 



233 



