384 MISC. PUBLICATION 4 2 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 

 9. RIBES. 56 Currant, gooseberry 



Shrubs, usually straggling, often spiny; leaves alternate, or appear- 

 ing fascicled because of the much-shortened internodes, the blades 

 broad, rounded, commonly lobed; flowers in fascicles or somewhat 

 elongate racemes, sometimes solitary, usually inconspicuous; petals 

 much reduced, these and the stamens 4 or 5, inserted on the calyx 

 throat; ovary inferior; berry globose or nearly so, juicy, several- 

 seeded, crowned by the persistent calyx lobes. 



These shrubs harbor one stage of the white pine blister rust (Cro- 

 nartium ribicola) and are being exterminated wherever commercially 

 important stands of white pines occur. The fruits of some of the 

 wild species are eaten by the Indians fresh or dried. They are some- 

 times used for making jelly and are much liked by birds. R. cereum 

 was used by the Hopi to alleviate stomach ache. Both domestic 

 animals and deer browse the plants. 



Key to the species 



1. Pedicels jointed beneath the ovary, often bearing a pair of bractlets just 



below the joint; fruit disarticulating from the pedicel; spines and bristles 



at the nodes of the stem none, or, if present, the hypanthium very shallow: 



Subgenus Ribesia (2). 



2. Spines present, usually numerous and conspicuous, often clustered; leaf 



blades seldom more than 3 cm. wide, deeply 5-lobed or 5-parted, copiously 



pubescent on both faces to nearly glabrous; inflorescence few-flowered; 



flowers dull pink or red; berries bright red, glandular-bristly. 



1. R. MONTIGENUM. 



2. Spines none (3). 



3. Anthers without an apical gland but sometimes apiculate (4). 



4. Hypanthium glabrous, yellow (as are the calyx lobes), tubular-funnel- 

 form, equaling or longer than the calyx lobes; berries at maturity 

 smooth, red, black, or yellow, 6 to 8 mm. in diameter; leaf blades 

 deeply 3-lobed, the lobes commonly sparingly crenate-dentate or 

 shallowly cleft, cuneate to subcordate at base, up to 5 cm. wide; 

 flowers very showy for the genus 2. R. aureum. 



4. Hypanthium glandular-pubescent, greenish white or pinkish (as are the 



calyx lobes), turbinate, shorter than the calyx lobes; berries at 

 maturity glandular-pubescent, black (sometimes with a bloom), 

 8 to 12 mm. in diameter; leaf blades shallowly to rather deeply 3- 

 to 5-lobed with acutish lobes, dentate with numerous teeth, cordate 

 at base, up to 9 cm. wide but commonly smaller _ - 3. R. wolfii. 

 3. Anthers with a cup-shaped apical gland; leaf blades shallowly lobed with 

 rounded lobes, crenate-dentate (5). 



5. Flowers (from the base of the ovary) 14 to 17 mm. long; hypanthium 



less than twice as long as wide, cylindric-campanulate; berry at 

 maturity black, glandular-bristly; herbage not resinous or obscurely 

 so, copiously puberulent and glandular-pubescent; leaf blades 

 commonly 5 cm. wide or wider, crenate-dentate with numerous 



teeth, cordate 4. R. viscosissimum. 



5. Flowers less than 14 (seldom more than 10) mm. long; hypanthium 

 more than twice as long as wide, tubular; berry at maturity bright 

 red, smooth or glandular-pubescent but not bristly; herbage 

 noticeably resinous-granular as well as glandular-pubescent, 

 fragrant; leaf blades not more (commonly much less) than 4 cm. 

 wide, orbicular- reniform, cuneate to subcordate at base (6). 



6. Bracts cuneate-obovate, deeply toothed or lobed at the (commonly) 

 truncate or rounded apex 5. R. cereum. 



6. Bracts rhombic, often narrowly so, entire or denticulate at the 

 acutish apex 6 R. inebrians. 



m The writers are indebted to the late F. V. Coville for much help in identifying specimens of Ribes. 



