RIBES spicatum.
Acid Mountain Currant.
PENTANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. Char. Cal. superior, bell-shaped, 5-cleft, bearing
the petals and stamina. Style cloven. Berry with
many seeds.
Spec. C har. No thorns. Spikes erect. Flowers nearly
sessile. Petals oblong. Bractese shorter than the
flowers.
Syn. Ribes spicatum. Robson in Tr. o f Linn. Soc.
v. 3. 2 4 0 . t. 21. Sm. FI. Brit. 2 6 4 . With. 265.
Hull. 54. Sym. Syn. 6 2 .
A MORE particular inquiry, since page 705 was written, has
convinced me of the distinction between this plant and R. pe-
trceum, which consists in the clusters being always erect, both
in flower and fruit, and in the extreme shortness of the partial
flower- and fruit-stalks. Hence the clusters are more properly
denominated spikes. Mr. Robson, to whom we are obliged for
wild specimens, is the only discoverer of this species. He
found it near Richmond in Yorkshire, and between Piersbridge
and Gainford in Durham, flowering in May; and his account,
with a plate annexed, is published in the Linnean Society’s
3d volume of Transactions.
Its leaves resemble R. rubrum, see last page, except in being
generally more downy beneath, and more sharply serrated.
The erect spikes, however, and nearly sessile flowers, are abundantly
sufficient to distinguish it from that species. The flowers
are of a dull brownish green. Petals oblong. Bractese very
small and recurved, about as long as the little partial stalks.
No other bracteae are to be found. Berries red and acid, like
the foregoing.
W e should recommend this for cultivation, as there is no
guessing what advantages a new species, or even variety, of
Currant might possess.