Relatives
Ribes ussuriense Jancz. - Ussurian currant.
Taxonomic position.
Family Grossulariaceae Hill; genus Ribes L.Morphology and biology.
Perennial plant. Branchy shrub, about 1 m tall, with producing, abundant soboles. Shoots are golden yellow, pilose. Leaves are up to 7 cm long and 7 (10) cm wide, compact, glossy, bright green, with a heart-shaped base; the upper surface is sparsipilose at first and bare towards the end; the undersurface is pubescent along the veins; leaves are serrated along the edges with five sharp or acuminate lobes. Racemes are short, up to 2.5 cm in length, with 5-9 flowers; pedicels are 3-5 mm long; rachis and flowers are thickly tomentose, white. Bracts are lanceolate, 2-2.5 mm long, ciliate along the edges. Flowers are bell-shaped, pale cream or yellowish, 7-8 mm long and 6 mm in diameter, thinly pilose and glandular on the outside. Calyx lobes are lanceolate, up to 4 mm in length and 2 mm wide, micropilose from both sides. Hypanthium is somewhat pentahedral, with a width 2-2.5 times greater than the height; its style is complete; the ovary's top is wide-conical, while its lower part is densely glandular. Berries are black, small, set on thin, drooping stems. Flowers in June; bears fruit in July. Entomophilous, monoecious, zoochore.Distribution.
Isolated locations are reported in North Korea (along Segel Su tributary of Dumangang); Ussuri Province (Khanka Lake vicinities); and the Nezhinka River valley in the Nadezhdinsky District of Primorsky Region. May be regarded as a narrow-location endemic species of the Ussuri District in the Primorsky Region.Ecology.
Occurs along riverbanks; individual plants occur in flood-land forests in Manchuria.Utilization and economic value.
Used for food and fruit-processing. Berries are small, randomly ripening and quickly falling. Their flavor is similar to that of other species of this genus.References:
Komarov V.L. 1939. Flora of the USSR. Vol. IX. Fam. Saxifragaceae. Moscow/Leningrad, Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, pp. 254-255.Koropachinsky I.Yu., Vstovskata T.N. 2002. Woody plants of Asiatic Russia. Grossulariaceae DC. Novosibirsk: Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Science, GEO Branch Publishers, pp. 266-293.
Malyshev L.I., Peshkova G.A. 1979. Flora of Siberia. Vol. I. Onocleaceae-Saxifragaceae. Novosibirsk, Nauka, p. 431.