Ribes aureum (Golden Currant) - photos and description
Flowers have a long calyx tube
General: Shrub erect to arching, stems without
thorns.
Quite showy when in flower, is sold at Saskatchewan nurseries because of
its ornamental value.
Flowers: Flowers many, often red-tipped, grow in racemes of up to 10. Flowers have a long calyx tube, calyx tube measured to 11 mm, flowers measured to 16 mm long.
Leaves: Leaves are alternate, three-lobed, leaf (blade) highlighted in photo above was measured at 30 mm long by 33 mm wide. Leaves are irregularly toothed and have very short, glandular hairs.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 2 m tall, we measured plants to 2.6 m tall.
Habitat: Riverbanks and coulees.
Abundance: This plant is very rare, ranked as an S3 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
Origin: Native.
Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Ribes odoratum.
How to identify this species of Ribes: Flowers with a long tube, bright yellow (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants).
When and where photographed: The above photos were taken May 12th, shrubby thicket on prairie hillside, Big Muddy, about 180 km south west of our home in Regina, SK.