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blood currant, red currant, red flowering currant

golden currant

Habit Erect, unarmed shrub 1-3 m. tall, with reddish-brown bark. Erect to spreading, unarmed, glabrous shrubs 1-3 m. tall; branches reddish when young, becoming dark gray with age.
Leaves

Leaves alternate, petiolate, broadly reniform to deltoid-ovate, 2.5-6 cm. broad, the lower surface much paler and hairier than the upper, palmately 5-lobed, the lobes deltoid to rounded and finely denticulate.

Leaves alternate, petiolate, pale green, the blades broadly deltoid-ovate to ovate, 2-5 cm. broad, palmately 3-lobed less than half their length, the segments entire or with 2-5 rounded teeth.

Flowers

Inflorescence of erect, 10- to 20-flowered racemes;

pedicels jointed;

calyx pale to deep rose, finely pubescent;

calyx tube 3-5 mm. long and nearly a broad, the 5 lobes oblong, equal to the tube, spreading;

petals 5, white to light rose, obovate-spatulate, entire, 2.5-3.5 mm. long;

stamens 5, equaling the petals, the filaments pinkish;

styles 2, glabrous, fused almost to the stigmas;

ovary inferior.

Flowers fragrant, 5-18 in ascending or reflexed racemes usually longer than the leaves;

pedicels up to 8 mm. long;

calyx tube cylindric, 6-8 mm. long, the 5 lobes oblong-elliptic, spreading, 5-7 mm. long, the lobes and tube golden yellow;

petals 5, small, yellow to reddish, oblong-obovate, erect;

stamens 5, alternate with and equal to the petals;

styles 2, fused almost to the stigmas, glabrous, about equal to the calyx lobes;

ovary inferior.

Fruits

Berry globose, 7-9 mm. long, glaucous-black.

Berry globose, glabrous, about 7 mm. long, orange or occasionally burgundy.

Ribes sanguineum

Ribes aureum

Flowering time February-June April-May
Habitat Open to wooded, moist to dry valleys and lower mountains. Sagebrush desert where seasonally moist to ponderosa pine forest openings at middle elevations.
Distribution
Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
R. acerifolium, R. aureum, R. bracteosum, R. cereum, R. divaricatum, R. hudsonianum, R. inerme, R. lacustre, R. laxiflorum, R. lobbii, R. montigenum, R. nigrum, R. niveum, R. oxyacanthoides, R. rubrum, R. triste, R. velutinum, R. viscosissimum, R. watsonianum, R. wolfii
R. acerifolium, R. bracteosum, R. cereum, R. divaricatum, R. hudsonianum, R. inerme, R. lacustre, R. laxiflorum, R. lobbii, R. montigenum, R. nigrum, R. niveum, R. oxyacanthoides, R. rubrum, R. sanguineum, R. triste, R. velutinum, R. viscosissimum, R. watsonianum, R. wolfii
Subordinate taxa
R. sanguineum var. sanguineum
R. aureum var. aureum
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