Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Ribes laxiflorum
trailing black currant
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.

Habitat: Coastal woodlands to montane slopes.

Flowers: April-July

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, hummingbirds

Description:
General:

Decumbent or spreading shrubs, usually under 1 m. tall, the young branches finely puberulent, becoming reddish-brown.

Leaves:

Leaves alternate, long-petiolate, the blades palmately veined, deeply cordate, 4-8 cm. broad and long, glabrous above, with short-stalked, non-crystalline glands below, 5-lobed half their length, the segments ovate-triangular and serrate with rounded teeth.

Flowers:

Inflorescence 8- to 18-flowered, erect to ascending, racemose, shorter than the leaves, puberulent, and with reddish, stalked glands throughout; pedicels up to 1 cm. long, jointed just below the ovary; calyx tube shallowly bowl-shaped, 1 mm. long, lined with a thick, flat, 5-lobed reddish disk that covers the top of the ovary; 5 calyx lobes 2.5-3 mm. long, deltoid-ovate, spreading, greenish-white, with a pinkish to purplish tinge; petals purplish-red, 1.0-1.5 mm. long and broad, reniform, clawed; stamens 5, equaling the petals; styles glabrous, united half their length.

Fruits:

Berry glaucous, purplish-black, ovoid, 1 cm. long, glandular-bristly.

Identification Notes:

Filaments of R. laxiflorum are reddish.

Accepted Name:
Ribes laxiflorum Pursh
Publication: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 731. 1813.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Ribes coloradense Coville
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Ribes laxiflorum in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WA Flora Checklist: Ribes laxiflorum checklist entry.

OregonFlora: Ribes laxiflorum information.

E-Flora BC: Ribes laxiflorum atlas page.

CalPhotos: Ribes laxiflorum photos.

USDA Plants: Ribes laxiflorum information.

31 photographs:
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