RIBES. 



Fruit fmooth. — On the Blue mountains ; from Pennfyl- 

 vania to Virginia, flowering in May and June. Pur/h. The 

 partial fowerjalis are very long. BraS.as very fhort. 

 Flowers yellowifh-green, with white petals. Berries pale 

 red, fmall. 



32. R. oxyacanthoides. Hawthorn-leaved Goofeberry. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 291. Willd. n. 15. Ait. n. 13. Purlh 

 n. 15. (GrofTularia oxyacanthte foliis amphonbus, e Gnu 

 Hudfomo; Dill. Elth. 166. t. 139.)— Branches clothed 

 with brittly prickles ; thofe under the buds larger, moflly 

 folitary. Leaves fmooth, thiee-lobed, notched. Stalks 

 one or two-flowered, fliorter than the footftalks. Fruit 

 fmooth. — Native of rocky places at Hudfon's- Bay, Canada, 

 New York, &c. flowering in April and May. It is faid to 

 have been cultivated in England in 1 705, and was certainly 

 in the Eltham garden near thirty years after. This re- 

 fembles the common goofeberry in habit, but the branches 

 are covered with innumerable, fine, briftly, not very rigid 

 prickles, befides the larger ones, proper to this fection of 

 the genus, which are moitly folitary under each bud. Leaves 

 larger, more deeply cut than in our. goofeberries, fmooth. 

 Flowers drooping, one or two on each italk. Fruit globofe, 

 the fize of a black currant, purple, or almoit black, with 

 a caerulean bloom on the furface ; (lightly acid. 



33. R. lacufiris. Swamp Clufter Goofeberry. " Perf. 

 Syn. v. 1. 252." Purfh n. 16. (R. oxyacanthoides ; Mi- 

 chaux Boreal-Amer. v. 1. hi.) — Branches clothed with 

 briitly prickles ; thofe under the buds numerous, aggregate, 

 pungent. — Leaves deeply lobed, doubly notched. Cluiters 

 downy, drooping, many-flowered. Fruit hilpid. — Found 

 in fwamp6, on the mountains, from Canada to Virginia, 

 flowering from April to June. Purfi. Many perfons have 

 confounded this with the hit, and we are not fure that the 

 two are diflinguifhed by our leading gardeners. We received 

 fpecimens of the prefent from the Edinburgh garden, fo long 

 ago as 1782, with the name of R. oxyacanthoides. Another, 

 in the herbarium of the younger Linnaeus, is marked ar- 

 matum ; an excellent name, given, we believe, by fir J. Banks 

 or Dr. Solander, who could not overlook the characters 

 which fo clearly diitingaiih this from the true oxyacanthoides. 

 Thefe are not only the deeply divided vine-like leaves, but 

 the numerous, combined, afcending prickles, almoit palmate 

 at their bafe, which Hand under each leaf or bud ; and alfo 

 the long hairy glandular cluiters of Jlowers, with a prickly 

 germen and fruit. The branches are befet with abundance of 

 rigid prickly bridles, rather itronger than thofe of oxya- 

 canthoides. The Jlotvers are of a dull, tawny, yellowifh- 

 green. " Berries amber-coloured, or brown." Pur/h. 



34. R. cynojbati. Thorny-fruited Clufter Goofeberry. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 292. Willd. n. 16. Ait. 11. 14. Purfh 

 n. 17. Jacq. Hort. Vind. v. 2. t. 123. — Branches fmooth. 

 Prickles one or two under each bud, fimple. L eaves fi ve - 

 lobed, downy beneath. Cluiters drooping, of few flowers. 

 Fruit armed with ltrong thorns. — On the fides of hills and 

 rocks, in the Allegany mountains, and in Canada, flowering 

 from April to June. Flowers green. Berries dark brown, and 

 covered with thorns. Pur/h. Miller cultivated this fpecies 

 at Chelfea, where we believe it ft ill remains. The leaves 

 are downy on both fides, but efpecially beneath. Prickles 

 moftly folitary, variable in fize ; thofe on the large globular 

 fruit are peculiarly ltrong. 



We have thus more than doubled Willdenow's catalogue 

 of fpecies, in this genus. Some of the newly difcovered 

 ones, from North America, are likely to prove great acqui- 

 fiticns to our kitchen gardens, provided they bear fruit in 

 this climate ; of which, till the experiment is fairly made, 

 there muft always be fome uncertainty. 



Ribes, in Gardening, contains plants of the hardy, deci- 

 duous, fhrubby kind, of which the fpecies cultivated are ; the 

 common currant ( R. rubrum'i ; the common black currant 

 ( R. nigrum) ; the rough-fruited goofeberry ( R. groffu- 

 laria) j the fmooth-fruited goofeberry (R. uva crifpa ) ; the 

 procumbent goofeberry (R. reclinatum) ; the hawthorn- 

 leaved currant (R. oxyacanthoides) ; and the prickly-fruited 

 currant ( R. cynofbati). 



It is obferved by Martyn, that the firlt fort is very apt 

 to be infefted with the aphis ribes, in which cafe the green 

 leaves become red, pitted, and puckered. It has been long 

 cultivated in the garden, and greatly improved. There are 

 feveral varieties ; as the common fort, with fmall red fruit ; 

 with white fruit ; with pale fruit, commonly called the 

 Champaign currant, differing only in being a pale red or 

 flefh-colour. But fince the white and red Dutch currants 

 have been introduced and become common, the old forts 

 have been almoit baniihed, and are now rarely to be found. 

 And Mr. Forfyth mentions the tine new white Dutch, long- 

 branched red, ftriped-leaved red-white currant, and large 

 pale and red Dutch. 



There are alfo the fweet currant, the fmall-fruited cur- 

 rant, and a variety with blotched leaves, Which is kept in 

 fome plantations ; but as the variegation is apt to go off 

 when the plant is vigorous, it fcarcely deferves a place in 

 them. 



Of the fecond there is a fort often termed the American 

 black currant. The berries have ,1 very peculiar flavour, 

 which many perfons diilike ; but are commonly eaten in 

 puddings in fome parts, and make a tart little inferior to the 

 cranberry. The juice of which is alfo frequently boiled 

 down to an extract, with the addition of a fmall proportion 

 of fugar ; in this ftate it is called rob, and ufed in fore throats 

 and other difeafes. 



Currants in general are by fome fuppofed the moft ufeful 

 of all the fmall fruits, as ferving either for table or culinary 

 ufes, as well as for wine, and continuing long in fuccefiion 

 with due management. The black fort is feldom fent to 

 table as a fruit for that purpofe. But it is a fort which 

 may be infufed in fpirit of any kind, in which way the) 

 make a good liquor. 



The third, or rough-fruited, fort is a low branching fhruh, 

 which lias the berries pendulous and hairy. And it is ob- 

 ferved by the editor of Miller's Dictionary, that if the 

 bratteas do not diftinguifli this from the following, the 

 roughnefs or fmoothnefs of the berries will hardly do it, as 

 Mr. Robfon has found that feeds from the fame plant will 

 produce both rough and fmooth fruit. He cannot regard 

 them as different fpecies. 



The fourth, or fmooth-fruited, fort has the berry pulpy, 

 fubdiaphanous, pale, amber-coloured, red or purple, fmooth, 

 and the pidp watery and fweet. And Martyn remarke, that 

 the goofeberry feems to have been formerly a fruit in very 

 little efleem, but has received fo much improvement, that it 

 is now become valuable, not only for tarts, pies, and fauces, 

 both frefh and preferved in bottles, but as an early defert fruit, 

 and preferved in fugar for winter ufe to anfwer the fame 

 purpofe. 



It may be noticed, that the mod important varieties of the 

 red kind are, the hairy, fmooth, deep red, damfon or dark 

 red, blueiih, red rafpberry, early black-red, Champaigne, 

 .Sec. Of the green kind ; the hairy, fmooth, Gafcoigne, 

 rafpberry, &c. Of the yellow kind; the great oval, great 

 amber, hairy amber, early amber, large tawny or great mo- 

 gul, ice. And of the white kind ; the common, white-veined, 

 and large cryftal. But befides thefe, there is the rumbul- 

 lion, large ironmonger, fmooth ironmonger, hairy globe, and 



innumerable 



