Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


Home	About NPWRC	Our Science	Staff	Employment	Contacts	Common Questions	About the Site

Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

24. Grossulariaceae, the Gooseberry Family

1. Ribes L. -- Currant, gooseberry

1. Ribes americanum Mill. -- Wild black currant

Shrub 1-1.5 m tall, the branches erect to spreading; stems unarmed, the new growth closely pubescent; twigs gray to grayish-brown and glabrous, blackish with age, often with low corky wings decurrent from the nodes. Leaves 3-lobed and usually with 2 shallow basal lobes, 2-6(9) cm long, 2.5-8(11) cm wide, dotted with shiny, yellow to brown resinous glands especially beneath, glabrous or puberulent above, hirsute beneath, coarsely serrate or crenate-serrate, broadly rounded to cordate at the base; petioles shorter than to longer than the blade, ciliate and pubescent. Inflorescences racemose, 6- to 15-flowered, drooping, 3-8 cm long, the axis short-pubescent; bracts linear-lanceolate, exceeding the pedicels; pedicels 2-5 mm long. Flowers greenish-white to cream-colored, 8-12 mm long; sepals erect to spreading, oblong, 4-5 mm long, rounded; petals creamy white, 2-3 mm long; stamens about equaling the petals; styles united nearly to the tip; hypanthium campanulate in flower, tubular in fruit, 3-4.5 mm long. Fruit a black berry, 6-10 mm in diameter. Flowering May--June, fruiting Jul--Aug. Marsh and lake borders, wet meadows, stream banks, floodplains and moist woods; common; (N.B. to Alta., s to DE, WV, IN, NE and NM).

Ribes americanum, in flower.

Map key

Return to Family -- Primulaceae - The Primrose Family
Next Species -- Ribes missouriense Nutt. -- Missouri gooseberry

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/vascplnt/species/rame.htm
Page Contact Information: Webmaster
Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:46:35 EDT
Menlo Park, CA [caww55]