E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Ribes acerifolium Howell
maple-leaved currant (mapleleaf currant; maple-leaved blackcurrant)
Grossulariaceae (Currant family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Virginia Skilton  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #26249)

E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Ribes acerifolium
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Species Information

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General:
Deciduous shrub, loosely branched, 0.5-1.1 m tall; stems erect to spreading, unarmed; bark brownish.
Leaves:
Alternate, mapleleaf-shaped, 2-7 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, 5-lobed, the lobes cleft almost half their length, finely hairy and usually with unstalked or shortly stalked glands; leaf stalks more or less equal to the blades in length, finely hairy.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of 7- to 15-flowered, drooping racemes; flower stalks jointed under the ovary and usually subtended by 1-3 small bracteoles at the tips; petals red, egg-shaped, 1-1.5 mm long, spreading with the sepals; hypanthium shallowly bowl-shaped, somewhat glandular, 1.2-1.5 mm long; calyces greenish, the lobes broadly oblong to egg-shaped, 2.5-3 mm long; styles glabrous, about equaling the stamens and petals.
Fruits:
Berries, round, black with a whitish bloom, up to 1 cm long, slightly hairy and sparsely glandular.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Moist meadows and streambanks in the montane to alpine zones; infrequent in extreme SW BC on the mainland and rare in SE BC; S to ID and OR.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Ribes acerifolium

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum

Elevation (metres) 821 1527 1840
Slope Gradient (%) 0 35 65
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]
0 116 346
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
1 3 7
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
B
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
47
Modal BEC Zone Class
ESSF
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: BWBS(1), ESSF(41), MH(3), MS(2)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Ribes howellii Greene

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References