GROSSULACE.fi. 11$) 



OPUNTIA. Tourn. Prickly Pear. 



Sepals and petals not prolonged into a tube, spreading, 

 the inner roundish. Stamens numerous, shorter than tha 

 petals. Style with numerous erect stigmas. — Stem com- 

 posed of flat and usually broad joints, bearing clusters of 

 bristles often with spines intermixed, arranged in a special 

 order. 



0. VULGARIS, Mill. Indian Fig. Cow> s-tonguc. 



Stems low, prostrate-spreading, of obovate joints, armed with short barbed hri» 

 tie?, rarely with a few spines; floivers sessile, on the margin of the joints. 



Dry rocks and sandy soils; rare. June, July. Flcmers large, sul] bur-yellow. 

 /Vmi'J obovate, umbillicate, nearly smooth, eatable, Seeds numerous, immersed is 

 the crimson pulp. Cultivated. 



Order 45. GROSSULACEIE. Currant Family, 



Low shrubs, sometimes prickly, with alternate palmately loVed leaves, a b-lobeH 

 talyx cohering with the l-cellcd ovary, and bearing 5 small petals and 5 slamenx 

 Fruit a 1-celled berry, with 2-parietal placentae crowned with a minute embryo a* 

 the base of hard albumen. 



RIBES. Linn. 



Calyx companulate or tubular, 5-parted, sometimes col- 

 ored. Petals small, inserted alternately with the stamens 

 in the throat of the calyx. Stamens 5, very short. Styli b 

 2, distinct or united. Berry crowned with the shrivelled 

 remain of the flowers, 1-celled, pulpy, many-seeded.— Leave* 

 often clustered in the axils, with the flowers from the same 

 clusters or from separate buds. 



* Stem unarmed ; flowers in racemes : berries nex-er pricldy. Ccurants. 



1. B. FLORIDUM, L'Her. Wild Blade Currant. 



Leaves sub-eordate, 3 to 5-lobed, sprinkled on both sides with yellowish resinota 

 dots, doubly serrate, on long petioles; racemes drooping, many-flowered, downy; 

 bracts longer than the pedicels; calyx tubular, bell-shaped; fruit oboToid. 



Woods and hedges; common. May. A handsome shrjb 3 to 4 feet high. 

 Leaves 1 to 2 inches long \}/ 2 to 2% wide, on petioles 1 to 2 inches long. FhAecr* 

 pomewhat bell-shaped, greenish yellow. Fruit black, sraoo f h. infipid. 



Tue II. nigrum or black currant of the gardens. Native of Europe, is prpbaUy 

 not distinct from this species. 



2. B. PROSTRATUM, L'Her. Mountain Currant. 



Stem reclining or prostrate; leaves deeply cordate, 5 to 7-!obcd, smooth ; the lobw 

 ovate, acute, doubly serrate ; racemes erect, slender ; calyx rotate, segments obovate ; 

 petals spatulate, small ; fruit glandular-hisped. 



Mountains and rocky hills. May, June. A small procumbent shrub with ere** 

 branches 1 to 3 feet high. Jiacemes erect, about 8-tlowerel, at kngth pendulous. 

 Bracts very short. Flowers marked with purple. Ferris red, ill-scented. TJw 

 whole plant has a disagreeable odor. 



