Ribes bracteosum |
Ribes niveum |
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blue currant, California black currant, stink currant |
Snake River gooseberry, snow currant, snow gooseberry, snowy gooseberry, white-flower gooseberry |
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Habit | Plants 1–4 m. Stems erect, with dense, yellowish, shiny, sessile, crystalline, round glands, sparsely pubescent throughout; spines at nodes absent; prickles on internodes absent. | Plants 0.5–3 m. Stems erect to sprawling, (rooting at tips), glabrous; spines at nodes 1–3(–6), (2–)5–15(–20) mm; prickles on internodes absent or sometimes numerous. |
Leaves | petiole 2–10 cm, sparsely pubescent; blade ovate, deeply 5–7-lobed, cleft 1/2+ to midrib, (1.5–)2–10(–22) cm, base cordate, surfaces with yellow, dull, sessile glands and sparse hairs abaxially, with yellow, shiny, sessile glands and glabrous adaxially, lobes with main segments ovate-lanceolate, margins 1–2 times sharply serrate, apex acute, shallowly lobed. |
petiole 0.5–4(–6) cm, glabrous or pubescent and stipitate-glandular; blade broadly reniform to broadly ovate, 3–5-lobed, cleft 1/3–1/2 to midrib, 0.8–5 cm, base truncate to rounded-cuneate, surfaces finely pubescent or only between veins abaxially, lobes broad, rounded ternately, margins 1 or 2 times crenate-dentate, apex mucronate or apiculate. |
Inflorescences | ascending to erect, 20–50-flowered racemes, (10–)15–30 cm, axis sparsely pubescent, flowers evenly spaced. |
pendent, solitary flowers or 2–4(–5)-flowered racemes, 4–6 cm, axis glabrous or pubescent, flowers evenly spaced. |
Pedicels | jointed, 5–12 mm, pubescent and glandular; bracts conspicuous, proximal ones ovate, lobed, distal ones narrowly oblong, unlobed, (3–)4–5 mm, sparsely glandular and pubescent. |
not jointed, 4–15 mm, glabrous; bracts lanceolate, 1.2–3 mm, glabrous or finely ciliate. |
Flowers | hypanthium green, saucer-shaped, widely flared, 0.5–1.5 mm, ± pubescent and sparsely glandular abaxially, glabrous adaxially; sepals nearly to somewhat overlapping, spreading, brownish purple to greenish or sometimes nearly white, ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 3–5 mm; petals widely separated, erect, white, cuneate-flabelliform, not conspicuously revolute or inrolled, 1 mm; nectary disc wine red, thick, lobed, covering and submerging ovary; stamens slightly longer than petals; filaments linear to slightly broader at base, 1 mm, glabrous; anthers white, transversely oblong-cordate, 0.5 mm, broader than long, apex shallowly notched; ovary somewhat hairy and densely sessile-glandular; styles connate 1/4–1/2 their lengths, 1 mm, glabrous or hairy. |
hypanthium white, pale greenish, greenish white, or cream, narrowly campanulate, 1.6–3 mm, glabrous, rarely very sparsely hirsute; sepals not overlapping, sharply reflexed, white or very slightly pinkish, narrowly oblong to narrowly oblanceolate, 5–8 mm; petals connivent, erect, white or very slightly pinkish with red veins, oblong to cuneate-obovate, not conspicuously revolute or inrolled, 1.7–3.2 mm; nectary disc not prominent; stamens 2.5–3 times as long as petals; filaments linear, 6.5–9(–10) mm, finely pilose; anthers cream to greenish, ovate-oblong, 0.8–1.6 mm, apex rounded; ovary glabrous; styles connate 1/2+ their lengths, 8–14 mm, pilose on proximal 1/2–3/4. |
Berries | bland, black, subglobose, 8–10 mm, glandular. |
palatable but sour, yellow-green, becoming blue-black to purple, globose, 5.5–12 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Ribes bracteosum |
Ribes niveum |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Jun. | Flowering Apr–Jul. |
Habitat | Stream banks, moist woods, floodplains, shorelines, thickets, avalanche tracks | Thickets along streams, open hillsides |
Elevation | 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft) | 400-2400 m (1300-7900 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; OR; WA; BC
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CO; ID; NV; OR; WA
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Discussion | Ribes bracteosum occurs along the Pacific Coast from southeastern Alaska to northern California. Its thin leaves have a sweetish, disagreeable odor and the conspicuous bracts bear acicular, mostly persistent processes near the base along the slightly winged, stipular margins. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Ribes niveum was thought to be extirpated in Colorado; it was rediscovered near Cañon City, Fremont County (T. W. Chumley and R. L. Hartman 2000). It is unusual in having anthers glabrate or finely pilose or arachnoid, closing and extended in fruit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 18. | FNA vol. 8, p. 37. |
Parent taxa | Grossulariaceae > Ribes | Grossulariaceae > Ribes |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Douglas: in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 233. 1832 , | Lindley: Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 20: plate 1692. 1834 , |
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