General:
Deciduous shrub, loosely branched, 0.5-1.5 m tall; stems erect to spreading, bristly-hairy and usually with 1-3, slender, 0.8-1 cm long, nodal spines; bark yellowish brown to greyish-brown or grey.
Leaves:
Alternate, broadly egg-shaped, heart-shaped at the base, 1-5 cm wide, 3- to 5-lobed about half their length, the lobes rounded, deeply toothed, short glandular-hairy; stalks equal to or slightly longer than the blades, densely hairy and usually short glandular-hairy.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of usually 1-3 flowers in a drooping to spreading raceme much shorter than the leaves; flower stalks 1-3 mm long, not jointed below the flowers, glandular; petals whitish, egg-shaped, 2-3.5 mm long; hypanthium nearly cylindric to bell-shaped, 2-6 mm long; calyces pale greenish-white, glabrous to finely hairy; styles fused and soft-hairy to about midlength, about equaling the stamens.
Fruits:
Berries, round, reddish to deep-purplish blue, 1-1.2 cm long, glabrous.
Notes:
Three subspecies occur in BC:
1. Flowers mostly 8-11 mm long with sepals extended; leaves not glandular below.................. ssp. irriguum (Dougl.) Sinnott
1. Flowers about 7 mm long with sepals extended; leaves usually glandular short-hairy below
2. Hypanthium 5-6 mm long, not or only slightly flared; petals (2.5) 3.0-3.5 mm long; plants rare in SC BC...................... ssp. cognatum (Greene) Sinnott
2. Hypanthium 2.5-3.5 mm long, bell-shaped, flared; petals 2.0-2.5 mm long; the widely distributed subspecies...................... ssp. oxyacanthoides
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Scientific Name | Origin Status | Provincial Status | BC List (Red Blue List) | COSEWIC |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. cognatum | S1S2 (2015) | Red | Not Listed | |
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. oxyacanthoides | Native | S5 | Yellow | Not Listed |
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Ribes oxyacanthoides L.