Ribes montigenum

Ribes montigenum is a species of currant known by the common names mountain gooseberry, alpine prickly currant, western prickly gooseberry,and gooseberry currant. It is native to western North America from Washington south to California and east as far as the Rocky Mountains,[4] where it grows in high mountain habitat types in subalpine and alpine climates, such as forests and talus. It is a spreading shrub growing up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall, the branching stems covered in prickles and hairs and bearing 1 to 5 sharp spines at intervals.[5]

Mountain gooseberry
R. montigenum, growing in a disturbed area where an avalanche had previously occurred, in the Spring Mountains, in southern Nevada
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Grossulariaceae
Genus: Ribes
Species:
R. montigenum
Binomial name
Ribes montigenum
McClatchie[1]
Synonyms[2][3]
  • Ribes nubigenum McClatchie 1894, illegitimate homonym not Phil. 1856
  • Ribes lacustre var. molle A.Gray
  • Ribes lentum (M.E.Jones) Coville & Rose
  • Limnobotrya montigena (McClatchie) Rydb.

The lightly hairy, glandular leaves are up to 4 centimeters (1.6 inches)long and are divided into about five deeply cut or toothed lobes. Each is borne on a petiole several centimeters in length. The inflorescence is a raceme of several flowers. Each flower has five sepals in shades of yellow-green or pale pink, orange, or yellow which spread into a corolla-like star. At the center are five smaller club-shaped red petals and purple-red stamens tipped with yellowish or cream anthers. The fruit is an acidic but tasty bright red to orange-red berry up to a centimeter long which is usually covered in soft bristles. It has only a small dried flower remnant at the end, compared with the long remnant found on wax currants (Ribes cereum).[5]

  • berries
  • flowers

References
  1. Species was originally described and published, under the binomial Ribes nubigenum McClatchie (Erythea 2(5): 80. 1894.); under the binomial Ribes montigenum, species was published in Erythea: A journal of botany 5(3): 38. 1897. "Name - Ribes montigenum McClatchie". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  2. University of Washington, Burke Museum
  3. Tropicos, Ribes montigenum McClatchie
  4. "Profile for Ribes montigenum (gooseberry currant)". PLANTS Database. USDA, NRCS. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  5. Flora of North America, Ribes montigenum
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