Ribes sanguineum

It is a deciduous shrub growing to {{convert|3|m|ft|0|abbr=off}} tall and broad.{{Cite web|title=Red Flowering Currant {{!}} EMSWCD|date=5 November 2013 |url=https://emswcd.org/red-flowering-currant/|access-date=2021-05-06|language=en}} It is naturally multi-stemmed with an upright-arching to rounded habit, although it can be grown in tree form.{{Cite web|title=Ribes sanguineum {{!}} Landscape Plants {{!}} Oregon State University|url=https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/ribes-sanguineum|access-date=2021-05-12|website=landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu}} The bark is dark brownish-grey with prominent paler brown lenticels.

The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, {{convert|2|–|7|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=off}} long and broad, palmately lobed with five lobes. When young in spring, they have a strong resinous scent.

The flowers are produced in early spring at the same time as the leaves emerge, on dangling racemes {{convert|3|–|7|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} long of 5–30 flowers; each flower is {{convert|5|–|10|mm|in|frac=8}} in diameter, with five red, pink, or white{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLbAAwAAQBAJ |title=Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest |last2=Kuhlmann |first2=Ellen |date=2014 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=978-1-60469-263-1 |edition=1st |location=Portland, OR |pages=211}} petals.

The fruit is a dark purple oval berry about {{convert|1|cm|in|round=0.5|frac=8|abbr=on}} long; it has an insipid taste.{{cite book |title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |year=2008 |isbn=978-1405332965 |location=United Kingdom |pages=1136}}

{{gallery|mode=packed

|Ribes sanguineum 5724.JPG|Habit

|Ribes sanguineum - Rattlesnake Mountain west side trail (1).jpg|Flowers

|Fruit de Ribes sanguineum.jpg|Fruits

|Pink-flowering current.JPG|Spring buds on var. glutinosum

}}

The Latin specific epithet sanguineum means 'blood-red'.{{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Lorraine |title=RHS Latin for Gardeners |publisher=Mitchell Beazley |year=2012 |isbn=978-1845337315 |location=United Kingdom}}

It is native to the western United States, Canada and Mexico. In western British Columbia,[http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Ribes+sanguineum Plants of British Columbia: Ribes sanguineum] Washington, and Oregon, it is distributed widely in the moist regions west of the Cascades.[http://www.pnwflowers.com/flower/ribes-sanguineum Turner Photographics, Ribes sanguineum - Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest] – includes photos, description, partial distribution map In California it is restricted to areas near the coast, and can be found as far south as Santa Barbara County.[http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=7141 Calflora taxon report, University of California: Ribes sanguineum] In Mexico, it is only found on the Pacific island of Guadalupe, where it may be extirpated.{{Cite journal |last1=Rebman |first1=Jon P. |last2=Gibson |first2=Judy |last3=Rich |first3=Karen |date=15 November 2016 |title=Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Baja California, Mexico |url=http://sdplantatlas.org/pdffiles/BajaChecklist2016.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History |publisher=San Diego Natural History Museum |volume=45 |pages=178 |via=San Diego Plant Atlas}} Although its conservation status is secure across the rest of its range, in Idaho it is critically imperiled and is found only rarely in Bonner, Kootenai, Benewah, and Adams counties.{{Cite web|title=Red-flowered Currant (Ribes sanguineum) {{!}} Idaho Fish and Game|url=https://idfg.idaho.gov/species/taxa/60594|access-date=2021-05-12|website=idfg.idaho.gov}}[http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Ribes%20sanguineum.png Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map]

It is widely cultivated and naturalized throughout temperate Europe and Australasia.{{Grin}}

File:Gewone aardhommel koningin op Ribes sanguineum (Bombus terrestris) 4.jpg

The early spring nectar of red-flowering currant is used by hummingbirds as well as butterflies, which along with moths browse the leaves in their larval stage. Deer and elk occasionally browse the leaves, and the berries are consumed by birds and small mammals. Its branches provide nesting habitat for birds.{{Cite web|title=Red-flowering Currant|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/ribes_sanguineum.shtml|access-date=2021-05-06|website=www.fs.fed.us}}

The species is a host to white pine blister rust, which led to eradication efforts in the early to mid-20th century. From the 1920s the genus Ribes was federally restricted within the United States until the ban was lifted in 1966 due to increased resistance among both Ribes and Western white pine populations.{{Cite web|title=Ribes: Reintroducing a once common fruit genus|url=http://uncommonfruit.cias.wisc.edu/?p=316|access-date=2021-05-06|website=uncommonfruit.cias.wisc.edu}}

Red-flowering currant is shade tolerant but prefers sunny sites. It tolerates drought well, but prefers cool and moist conditions.

Red-flowering currant has been an invasive species in New Zealand since it was naturalized in 1904,{{Cite web |title=Ribes sanguineum |url=https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/ribes-sanguineum/ |access-date=2021-05-06 |website=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network |language=en}} where it forms dense stands in shrublands and along waterways which crowd out native vegetation.{{Cite web |title=Weed Information Sheet |url=https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/flowering-currant/ |access-date=2021-05-06 |website=Weedbusters |language=en}}

It is considered a 'significant environmental weed' in Tasmania, though only a minor problem as it is not widespread.{{Cite web |date=4 May 2006 |title=National list of naturalised invasive and potentially invasive garden plants |url=https://invasives.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/WWF-National-list-of-naturalised-Invasive-garden-plants-2004.pdf |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=World Wildlife Foundation Australia }}

R. sanguineum was introduced into cultivation in Britain in the fall of 1826 by Scottish botanist David Douglas, via seeds he had sent back during his explorations for the Royal Horticultural Society in the Pacific Northwest. It and its varieties and cultivars became immediately popular among English gardeners.{{Cite book|last=Nisbet|first=Jack|title=The Collector, David Douglas and the Natural History of the Pacific Northwest|publisher=Sasquatch Books|year=2009|isbn=9781570616136|location=Seattle|pages=183–184}} The noted botanist and RHS member John Lindley remarked:

{{Quote box

| quote = ...of such importance do we consider [red-flowering currant] to the embellishment of our gardens, that if the expense incurred by the Horticultural Society in Mr. Douglas' voyage had been attended with no other result than the introduction of this species, there would have been no ground for dissatisfaction.

| author = -John Lindley

| source = quoted in The Collector by Jack Nisbet

| align = center

| width = 66%

| fontsize = 100%

}}

It remains a popular garden shrub, valued for its brightly colored and scented flowers in early spring, and birds and habitat support. Numerous cultivars have been selected with flowers ranging from white to dark red. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:{{cite web | url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 87 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | accessdate = 9 October 2018}}

• 'Koja'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/66407/i-Ribes-sanguineum-i-Koja/Details

| title = RHS Plantfinder - Ribes sanguineum 'Koja' | accessdate = 9 October 2018}}

• 'Poky's Pink'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/141438/Ribes-sanguineum-Poky-s-Pink/Details

| title = 'Poky's Pink' | publisher = RHS | accessdate = 19 March 2020}}

• {{tdes|White Icicle}} = 'Ubric'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/44410/i-Ribes-sanguineum-i-Font-Face-times-New-Roman-White-Icicle-FONT-Ubric/Details | title = RHS Plantfinder - Ribes sanguineum {{tdes|White Icicle}} = 'Ubric'

| accessdate = 9 October 2018}}

The berries are edible but of a poor flavour.

Both indigenous and non-indigenous people use the berries for food, eating them fresh or dried or making them into jams, pies, juice, or syrup. The flowers can be used to infuse beverages, especially spirits.

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category-inline|Ribes sanguineum}}

• [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Ribes%20sanguineum Jepson Flora Project: Ribes sanguineum]
• [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-taxon=Ribes+sanguineum Ribes sanguineum — Calphotos Photo gallery, University of California]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q149372}}

sanguineum

Category:Flora of the Western United States

Category:Plants described in 1813

Category:Garden plants of North America

Category:Shrubs

Category:Drought-tolerant plants

Category:Bird food plants

Category:Flora of British Columbia

Category:Flora of Guadalupe Island