American Black Currant

Shrubs 1-2 m tall. Branchlets slender, pubescent, yellow glandular, unarmed. Buds brown, ovoid, 2.5-5 mm, pubescent and glandular, apex obtuse. Petiole 2-5 cm, pubescent and sparsely yellow glandular, sometimes plumose hairy near base; leaf blade broadly ovate to suborbicular, 2.5-6 × 3-7(-8) cm, abaxially pubescent along veins, adaxially glabrous, yellow glandular on both surfaces, base cordate or subtruncate; lobes 3-5, ovate to triangular-ovate, margin deeply serrate or doubly serrate, apex acute; terminal lobe slightly longer than lateral ones. Racemes pendulous, (4-)5-8 cm, 8-20-flowered or more; rachis and pedicels pubescent; bracts lanceolate to linear, 6-10 mm, pubescent, rarely sparsely glandular. Flowers bisexual; pedicel 2-4 mm. Calyx yellowish white, pubescent; tube campanulate to shortly cylindric, 3-5 mm; lobes spreading then reflexed, oblong to ligulate, 3.5-6 mm. Petals yellowish white, ligulate, 2.5-4.5 mm. Stamens subequaling petals; anthers oblong, apex with nectary. Ovary glabrous. Style equaling or slightly longer than stamens, entire or stigma 2-lobed. Fruit black, subglobose, 0.8-1 cm, glabrous. Fl. May, fr. Jun-Jul.

Forests along river banks in mountain regions, grasslands. N China (precise distribution unknown) [native to North America].

Coreosma americana (Miller) Nieuwland; C. florida (L'Héritier) Spach; Ribes floridum L'Héritier; R. recurvatum Michaux.