Ribes triste (Swamp Red Currant) - photos and description
Fuzz in the flower racemes is seed from nearby poplar trees.
Origin: Native.
General: Shrubs often reclining or decumbent, old growth reddish-brown in colour.
Flowers: Grow in drooping racemes, we counted up to 13 flowers in a raceme. Flowers are saucer-shaped and greenish-red to pinkish-red in colour. We measured a flower at 6 mm in diameter. Flower peduncles have glandular hairs.
Leaves: Alternate, usually wider than long, with three large lobes and two smaller lobes. The leaves are alternate, serrate, and have shallowly cordate bases. Leaf undersides are pubescent, without yellow resinous dots. The leaf highlighted in the photo above was 83 mm wide by 65 mm long.
Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora to 100 cm, we measured plants to 103 cm tall.
Habitat: Rich poplar woods.
Abundance: Common.
Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Ribes rubrum.
How to identify this species of Ribes: Flowers in drooping racemes, saucer-shaped, greenish-red to pinkish-red in colour, undersides of leaves without yellow resinous dots.
When and where photographed: Above photos taken May 22nd, rich poplar woodlands, Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park, about 250 km northeast of Regina, SK, and May 25th in a grassy swamp, Cypress Hills, about 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.