Ribes lacustre
Prickly Currant

Family: Grossulariaceae (Gooseberry family)

Photo taken near Mad River, partially shaded area near river (5 to 10 meters away)

Flowers:

generally 5 to 15 flowers per raceme; petals pinkish to purple, about 1 mm; hypanthium shallowly cup or saucer shaped, about 1 mm, lined with a pinkish-yellow disk; sepals 1.5 mm, green or purple

Fruit:

dark purple to black, 4 to 6 mm, with glandular hairs, not prickly

Leaves:

3 to 7 lobed , generally 3 to 5 cm, toothed; upper surface dark green, lower surface light green, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, rarely glandular

Plant:

shrub, stems prostrate to ascending, 0.1 to 0.5 meters tall; spines and prickles at nodes and sometimes along internodes, 3 to 9 nodal spines. Berries eaten by the Okanagon, Thompson, Shuswap, Yakama, and Montana Indian.

Habitat:

moist woods and streambanks to forest slopes and subalpine ridges

Distribution of species:

southern Alaska to California in the Cascades and in the Olympic Mountains, east to Newfoundland, Michigan, and Colorado

Distribution of genus:

120 species: Northern Hemisphere and temperate South America