American Black Currant

Ribes americaaum Mill. Gard. Diet. ed. 8. no. 4. 1768
Ribes Dillenii Medic. Beobacht. 1782 : 396. 1783.
Ribes fioridum L'Her. Stirp. Nov. 4. 1785.
Ribes nigrum pennsylvanicutn Marsh. Arbust. 132. 1785.
Ribes americanum nigrum Moench, Verz. Ausl. Baume 104. 1785.
Ribes pennsylvanicum Lam. Bncyc. 3: 49. 1789.
Ribes campanulatum^ Moench, Meth. 683. 1795.
Ribes recurvatum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 109. 1803.
Coreosma Jlorida Spach, Ann. Sci. Nat. II. 4 : 22. 1835.
Ribes fioridum, grandifiorum Loud. Arb. 986. 1836.
Ribes fioridum, parvifiorum. Loud. Arb. 986. 1836.
An unarmed shrub, 1-1.5 m. high, the stems erect or nearly so, the young shoots somewhat pubescent and glandular-dotted. Leaves suborbicular or ren if or m -orbicular in outline, or some of the upper ones ovate, thin, cordate at base with a widely open sinus, or subtruncate, 3-8 cm. wide, 3-5-lobQd, glabrous above when mature, more or less pubescent, at least on the veins, and glandular-dotted beneath, the lobes acute, or sometimes obtuse, serrate-dentate, the slender petioles more or less pubescent, often long-ciliate toward the base; racemes drooping, as long as the leaves or shorter, pubescent, several -flowered, the axis flexuous ; pedicels 4-7 mm. long ; bracts linear to linear-lanceolate, acute, persistent, longer than the pedicels or sometimes shorter ; ovary glabrous ; hypanthium yellowish-green to greenishwhite, sparingly pubescent, 3-4 mm. long, urceolate -cylindric ; sepals of the same color, pubescent, obtuse, a little longer than the hypanthium ; petals oblong, colored like the sepals, and about two thirds as long, about as long as the stamens ; fruit black, smooth, 6-10 mm. in diameter.
Type locality : Pennsylvania.
Distribution : Nova Scotia to Virginia, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, and ^.ssiniboia; also in New Mexico.