﻿APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1915. 31 



40406 to 40496— Continued. 



40482. X Ribes schneideri Maurer. 

 « 7492." 



"A hybrid between the black currant (male) and the gooseberry, raised 

 in Germany." (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British 

 Isles, vol. 2, p. 406.) 



40483. Ribes speciosum Pursh. Gooseberry. 

 " 7460." 



"A deciduous, spiny shrub, 6 to 9 feet high, the young shoots furnished 

 with gland-tipped bristles. Leaves 3 lobed, sometimes 5 lobed, sparsely 

 toothed, and from three-fourths to li inches long and wide, with smaller 

 ones often obovate and tapered at the base ; usually quite smooth ; stalk 

 slender, scarcely as long as the blade, with a few glandular bristles, 

 especially at the base. Flowers rich red, usually two to five in pendulous 

 clusters, the main stalk longer and less glandular than the minor ones. 

 Calyx tubular, one-half inch long, glandular ; sepals four, not reflexed ; 

 petals four, about as long as the sepals ; stamens four, red, standing out 

 three-fourths inch beyond the calyx. Fruit glandular bristly, red, one- 

 half inch long, rarely seen in this country. Native of California ; dis- 

 covered by Menzies about 1793, and introduced from Monterey by a naval 

 surgeon named Collie in 1828. As a flowering shrub it is the most beau- 

 tiful of the gooseberries. Its branches are reddish, horizontal, or slightly 

 dependent, and from their under side the richly coloured fuchsialike blos- 

 soms hang profusely in rows during April and May. It is very distinct 

 in the parts of the flower, being in fours (not the usual fives) and in 

 the very long highly coloured stamens. It is one of the earliest shrubs 

 to break into leaf, often in early February. It shows to best advantage 

 perhaps against a wall, where it will grow 10 or 12 feet high, but it is 

 quite hardy in the open at Kew, where it has grown 6 or 7 feet high. It 

 can be rooted from cuttings, but does not strike readily ; layering is a 

 more certain process." (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the 

 British Isles, vol. 2, p. 408. ) 



40484. X Ribes succieubrum Zabel. Gooseberry. 

 " 7507." 



"Niveum 2 X divaricatum $. Rather robust shrub, tall, with young 

 shoots glabrous, armed with strong nodal spines, simple, more rarely 

 ternate, up to 20 mm. long. Leaves rounded, up to 4 cm. long, 5 cm. wide, 

 3 to 5 lobed, with lobes little developed and obtuse, the base truncate or 

 subcordate, dull, almost glabrous, similar to those of R. niveum. Flowers 

 rose-carmine, pretty, resembling those of the parents in form and dimen- 

 sion. Fruit as large as a large currant, elliptical or rounded, black, 

 lightly pruinose, juicy, subacid, edible, ripens in mid-July. Concerning 

 the origin of this hybrid, perfectly intermediate between its parents, 

 M. Zabel, of Gotha, wrote us in his letter of March 19, 1904: 'I have 

 raised this R. succirubrum in 1888 from seeds of R. niveum, beside which 

 grew R. divaricatum.' M. Zabel sent us branches and flowers of the 

 hybrid and of its second generation which are absolutely identical. 

 Here, then, is a new example of the constancy of hybrids between species 

 which in no way follows the law of Mendel." (E. Janczeioski, Mono- 

 graphie des Groseilliers, p. 500.) 



14682°— 18 3 



