Northern Red Currant - Ribes rubrum
Other Names:
Ribes sativum
Stems erect, spineless, 0.5–1.5 m. Twigs glabrous, tan becoming brown, glaucous. Leaf blades 2–6 cm wide, 5-lobed, cordate, crenate, pubescent sparsely so above. Inflorescence drooping, 7- to 15-flowered. Flowers saucer-shaped, greenish, 2–3 mm long, glabrous; calyx lobes 1–2 mm long, lanceolate; petals white, ca. 1 mm long; stamens as long as the petals. Berry red, ca. 7 mm long, glabrous, palatable (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Riparian forest, thickets, along streams and ditches, near habitations; valleys (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus vagans,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus huntii,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus mixtus,
Bombus nevadensis,
Bombus terricola,
Bombus sitkensis,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus bimaculatus,
Bombus impatiens,
Bombus insularis, and
Bombus flavidus (Plath 1934, Thorp et al. 1983, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).