The following are also allied to this order: Escalloniaceæ (arborescent plants with simple, scattered, leathery leaves), Cunoniaceæ (arborescent with opposite leaves), Cephalotaceæ (with pitcher-like, insect-catching leaves; Australia; Fig. [489]) and Francoaceæ. These have respectively 85, 107, 1 and 3 species.
Figs. 490–492.—Ribes rubrum.
Fig. 490.—Floral diagram.
Fig. 491.—Flower in longitudinal section.
Fig. 492.—Seeds in longitudinal section.
Order 3. Ribesiaceæ (Currants). 5-stamened Saxifragaceæ with epigynous flowers.—Moderately sized shrubs with scattered, stalked and palminerved, and generally palmilobed leaves, with a large leaf-sheath. The flowers (Figs. [490], [491]), most frequently borne in racemes, are regular, epigynous, and have often, above the ovary, a cup- or bell-shaped, or tubular prolongation of the receptacle, on which the sepals, petals and stamens are situated; they have 5 sepals (often large, coloured), 5 small, free petals, only 5 stamens (opposite the sepals) and a 2-carpellate gynœceum with a unilocular ovary and 2 parietal placentæ bearing many ovules. The fruit is a berry, whose seeds have a fleshy and juicy outer covering (Fig. [492]). In some species, for example Ribes grossularia, there is found an unbranched, or a 3–5-branched spine, very closely resembling the spiny leaves of the Berberis, but which, however, are emergences springing from the base of the petiole. Ribes has two kinds of branches: long-branches and dwarf-branches, the latter alone bearing the flowers.—Ribes (Figs. [490–492]). The blades of the leaf are folded or rolled together in vernation. R. alpinum is diœcious.
75 species; especially from the N. Temp. regions (especially N. Am.).—The receptacle secretes honey on its inner surface. The Gooseberry-flower is slightly protandrous, others are homogamous; insect-and self-pollination are found. The following are FRUIT BUSHES: R. nigrum (Black Currant), R. rubrum (Red Currant), R. grossularia (Gooseberry), originating in Northern Europe and Asia. Ornamental bushes: the North American R. aureum (Golden Currant) and R. sanguineum (Blood-red Currant), etc.