RIBES SANGUINEUM FLORE PLENO. 
(Double Bloody-flowered Currant.) 
Class. Order* 
PENTANDRI A . MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order- 
GROSSULACE./E, 
Gkneric Character.— Calyx superior ; limb four or 
five-pai ted, regular, coloured. Petals five, inserted in 
the throat of the calyx, and alternating with its seg- 
ments, equal. Stamens four or five, very rarely six, 
very short, alternating with the petals, equal; 
filaments conical or cylindrical, distinct ; anthers two- 
celled, opening lengthwise. Ovarium one-celled, with 
two opposite parietal placentas ; ovula numerous. 
Style one, three or four cleft. Fruit succulent, nearly 
globose, umbilicate at the apex from the permanent 
calyx, one-celled, many-seeded. Seeds arillate, sus- 
pended by a long filiform podosperm ; outer integu- 
ment gelatinous or juicy, and membranous ; under 
one a very thin membrane, adhering closely to the 
albumen ; bluntish at the extremity opposite the 
hilum. Albumen horny, conforming to the seed, 
white. Embryo minute, at the sharpest end of the 
seed, excentral, with a blunt radicle, which is placed 
next the hilum. 
Specific Character. — Plant a bushy shrub. Leaves 
corda,te, somewhat fi ve-lobed.serra.ted,veiny, smoothish 
above, but clothed with villous tomentum beneath. 
Racemes drooping, pubescent, twice the length of the 
leaves. Calyx tubulary, campanulate, with oblong 
obtuse spreading segments, exceeding the petals, which 
are red, and quite entire. Bracteas obovate-spatulate. 
Berries turbinate, hairy, brownish-black and bitter, 
destitute of pulp. 
Variety. — A seedling with double fiowers. 
For specimens of this interesting variety of a popular shrub we are indebted 
to the kind attention of Mr. James M'Nab, curator of the Caledonian Horticul- 
tural Society ; and we extract the following account from the statement which 
accompanied them :— 
" It has flowered for the second season in the garden of the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society, both as a standard and on a wall. Last year the plants 
were comparatively weak, and it was not until this spring that it fairly proved 
itself. It is considerably later in blooming than the ordinary varieties of the 
scarlet flowering currant, the standard variety being in bud when the single 
variety was passing out of flower ; and on the wall the double variety is in per- 
fection when the others similarly placed are long gone by. Its racemes vary from 
three to six inches in length ; and possess sufficient strength to support its com- 
paratively heavier flowers, and cause them to stand clear of the foliage. It also 
remains much longer in a state of perfection than any of the single varieties. 
When forced, it assumes a still more monstrous form, the flowers resembling the 
Hen and Chicken Daisy* (Bellis perennis prolifera). Its growth is every bit as 
free, and it flowers just as profusely as the ordinary single variety, and, like it, is 
easily propagated by cuttings and layers, and requires the same treatment." 
* We received specimens of it ia this state, which perfectly corroborate the description, 
VOL. xn. NO. CXXXVIII. R 
