Sempervivum. |] KXX. CRASSULACE #. 163 
In rocky situations, in the great mountain-ranges of central and 
southern Hurope to the Caucasus, and having been very long cultivated 
as a curiosity, it is widely spread over northern Europe, as an introduced 
plant, on cottage-roofs and old walls. is only under such circum- 
stances that it is to be met with in Britain. Fl. summer. 
XXXI. RIBESIACEA.. THE RIBES FAMILY. 
This family is identical with the Linnean genus Rzbes, and 
nearly allied to the exotic shrubby genera of Sazxifragacee, 
but maintained as distinct on account of the succulent fruit 
with parietal placentas, and the union of the styles at the base, 
indicating some approach to the Cactacee. (The g cenus Ribes 
is included under Saxifragacee by many authors. | 
I. RIBES. RIBUS. 
Shrubs, with alternate, palmately veined or lobed leaves, no stipules, 
and axillary flowers in racemes, or rarely solitary. Calyx adnate to the 
ovary at the base, the limb divided into 4 or 5 segments. Petals as many, 
very small and scale-like, inserted at the base of the segments of the calyx. 
Stamensasmany. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with many ovules inserted on 
2 parietal placentas. Style deeply divided into 2 or 4 lobes. Fruit a 
berry, filled with juicy pulp, in which the seeds are suspended by long 
stalks. Albumen horny, with a small, straight embryo. 
A genus spread over the whole of the temperate regions of the northern 
hemisphere. The species are most numerous in north-western America, 
and a small number extend along the Andes towards the southern ex- 
tremity of that continent. 
Stems prickly. Peduncles 1- or 2-flowered . : : , . h. K..Grossudaria. 
Stems unarmed. Flowers in racemes. 
Flowers all complete. : 
Leaves inodorous. Pedicels all short. Fruit red or white . 2. 
Leaves strongly scented. Lowest pedicels of each raceme 
longer than the upper ones. Fruit black. : A . 4 R. nigrum, 
Flowers dicecious. Fruit red 4 : 3. R. alpinum. 
The Scarlet Kibes and several others, now sheen: in our shrubberies, 
are natives of north-western America. 
1. K. Grossularia, Linn. (fig. 372). Gooseberry.—Amuch branched ° 
shrub, 3 or 4 feet high, with numerous palmately spreading prickles, 
either single or 2 or 3 Hote Leaves small, orbicular, palmately 
divided into 3 or 5 crenated lobes, more or less hairy on both sides. 
Flowers green, hanging singly or in pairs on short pedicels from little 
tufts of young leaves. Calyx-tube shortly campanulate, the segments 
oblong, about twice the length of the petals. Berry of the wild plant 
rather small and yellowish, sprinkled with stiff hairs, but in cultivation 
varying much in size and colour, and often quite g olabrous. 
In thickets, open woods, and hedges, in the rocky parts of central and 
southern Europe, and western Asia. In Britain, well established in many 
places, in hedges, and even wilder places, but, except in the north of 
England, scarcely indigenous, having been abundantly cultivated in 
cottage gardens for several centuries. Fl. early spring. [The truly wild 
R. rubrum. 
