Shrubs List |
Broadleaf List |
Deciduous List |
Currant Family [Grossulariaceae] |
Flowers: |
Berries: (white-bloom, 6-10mmφ, edible, insipid) |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
A very popular garden shrub growing to 2.5m that occasionally escapes into the wild by courtesy of being bird-sown. |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves an attractive mid-green and palmately lobed with radiant wrinkles. |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers hang pendant in loose racemes. En-masse they emanate a pleasant aroma. |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaf lobes are blunt and number three to five. Radiant veins lie almost parallel to the main veins. |
10th March 2014, Bispham Green, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Colour of flowers is pinkish, with whitish parts. Some plants have red flowers, but rarely all-white. |
10th March 2014, Bispham Green, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves and flowers form together in early spring. Un-opened flower buds hang loose. |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
They have five cusped petals that eventually splay out at right-angles, and five inner petals that form a tube. |
10th March 2014, Bispham Green, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The outer petals are usually a deeper shade than the inner petals. Outer ones also parallel-striped. |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Inner flower has five stamens with anthers that keep near the outside edge, and a central style. |
30th March 2009, Bromley Cross, Bolton, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The inner petals exposed as paddle-like. |
14th May 2014, Pole Lane, Mellor, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves 3-10cm across and with rounded lobes somewhat similar to those of Common Mallow. The undersides are downy hairy. When crushed the leaves smell aromatic. |
19th April 2008, Caldon Canal, Stafforshire. | Photo: © RWD |
A deep-red garden variety. |
23rd March 2016, a garden, Cresswell, South Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The stems are covered in translucent glandular hairs and much finer 'white' hairs which are appressed to the stem and far from straight. |
23rd March 2016, a garden, Cresswell, South Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The above in closer-up. The tips of the glandular hairs are translucent pale yellow, the stems either clear or faint reddish. |
23rd March 2016, a garden, Cresswell, South Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
A pink garden variety. |
11th April 2020, Walkden. | Photo: © RWD |
From a bright-red flowered garden variety which may(?) be sterile. The petals are on the right, the young ovary on the left is rugby ball shaped at the moment. |
11th April 2020, Walkden. | Photo: © RWD |
The ovary aka potential berry (it may be sterile?). It has the same type of curly white hairs as do the stems but the stubby hairs are white-hooked at the tip rather than having a pale-yellow gland a the top. |
14th July, 2018, a garden, Poynton, Cheshire. | Photo: © Anne Nesbit |
The berries, green at first, are apt to fall off when ripe, or get picked off by birds. The berries have much the same very short hat-pin type hairs (but no thinner plain hairs as are on the stems). |
14th July, 2018, a garden, Poynton, Cheshire. | Photo: © Anne Nesbit |
Berries progress through red... |
5th Aug, 2018, a garden, Poynton, Cheshire. | Photo: © Anne Nesbit |
To black when ripe. They are edible but insipid and have a whitish bloom. |
Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : Pendant racemes of pinkish hairy flowers and mid-green palmately-lobed leaves with rounded lobes. No relation to : Flowering-Rush (Butomus umbellatus) [a plant with similar name but which grows in water and belongs to a totally different family].
A deciduous garden shrub with many cultivars. It is not native but was introduced and is now naturalised in the wild, into woods, scrub and pollarded willows, although it seems not that often around here. Many cultivars may be sterile? It grows to 2.5m high and is both bird-sown and self-sown from the seeds contained within the purplish-black berries which have a whitish bloom. The flowers are pleasantly scented; the leaves too if crushed, a feature that distinguishes it from many similar Ribes genera plants except According to your Authors' sense of smell the flowers pong absolutely awful - of cat-pee. Others report of 'scent'. Hmmm.
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Ribes | sanguineum | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Grossulariaceae |
Ribes (Gooseberries/Currants) |
Currant Family [Grossulariaceae] |