﻿16 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



40406 to 40496— Continued. 



40416 and 40417. Ribes alpinum L. Alpine currant. 



40416. " 7375." 



"A deciduous unarmed shrub, reaching in gardens 6 to 9 feet in height 

 and as much or more in diameter, of dense, close habit ; young twigs 

 shining, and at first more or less glandular. Leaves broadly ovate or 

 roundish, 3 and sometimes 5 lobed, the lobes coarsely toothed, the 

 base straight or heart shaped, with five radiating veins ; upper surface 

 with scattered bristly hairs, the longer one usually shining and more 

 or less hairy on the veins ; one-half to 1* inches long and wide ; stalk 

 glandular-downy, one-fourth to one-half inch long. Flowers uni- 

 sexual, the sexes nearly always on separate plants, produced in the 

 axils of bracts longer than the flower stalk, greenish yellow; the 

 males on small, erect, glandular racemes 1 to \\ inches long, the 

 females fewer and on racemes half as long. Currants red, not pala- 

 table. Native of the northern latitudes of the Old World, including 

 England and Scotland. The largest specimens I know of form part 

 of the old hedge on the east front terrace of the old hall at Trout- 

 beck ; according to a letter at Kew they are treelike, 15 feet high, and 

 not less than 300 years old. Although this currant has no special 

 beauty of flower or fruit, it makes a very neat and pleasing shrub, ad- 

 mirable for shady places. Occasionally plants with perfect flowers 

 may be found." (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British 

 Isles, vol. 2, p. 397.) 



40417. " 7375 B." Var. sterile. 



" The so-called var. sterile appears to be merely the normal male- 

 flowered plant. None of the forms of R. alpinum need a rich soil. 

 They retain the neat, compact habit, which is their greatest merit, in 

 rather poor soil. The yellow-leaved forms color best in full sun." 

 (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, 

 p. 398.) 



For further description, see S. P. I. No. 40416. 



40418. Ribes amebicanum Miller. Currant. 



" 7345." 



" This shrub is unarmed, and closely allied to the common black cur- 

 rant, which it resembles in having 3-lobed or 5-lobed leaves, with a 

 coarse irregular toothing and a deeply heart-shaped base, and in possess- 

 ing the same heavy odor, due to yellowish glands on the lower sur- 

 face. The fruit also is black. The American species, however, is quite 

 distinct in the flowers ; these are nearly twice as long, more tapering and 

 funnel shaped, and yellow. Moreover, the bract from the axil of which 

 each flower springs on the raceme is longer than the stalk. (In R. 

 nigrum it is small and much shorter than the flower stalks. ) Native 

 of eastern North America from New Brunswick to Virginia, Kentucky, 

 etc. ; introduced in 1729. As a garden shrub, the only quality which 

 recommends this currant is that its foliage becomes suffused with bril- 

 liant hues of crimson and yellow in -autumn. For this quality it is sold 

 in nurseries, often as R. missouriense — wrongly, for the true plant of that 

 name is a gooseberry with spiny branches." (TT. J. Bean, Trees and 

 Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, p. 393.) 



