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Volume IV (1988) - Flora of New Zealand Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons
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Ribes L.

RIBES L.

Prostrate to erect, bushy and densely branched, sometimes spiny shrubs. Lvs mostly 3- or 5-palmately lobed, sometimes rugose, often ± glandular and aromatic when bruised. Hypanthium tubular to campanulate or globose, usually of same colour as sepals. Fr. with sweet or acid pulp.

Key

1
Stems with conspicuous spines at nodes; fls in clusters of 1-4; fr. 10-20 mm diam.
5. *uva-crispa
Stems unarmed; fls 5-many in pendent racemes; fr. < 11 mm diam.
2
2
Lvs convolute in bud; hypanthium and sepals yellow; fr. yellowish brown or possibly black, never with bloom
2. *odoratum
Lvs plicately folded in bud; hypanthium and sepals reddish; frs red or black, if black then often covered with a whitish bloom
3
3
Fr. red or occasionally white, translucent; lvs scarcely aromatic
3. *rubrum
Fr. black, opaque; lvs aromatic when bruised
4
4
Lvs glabrate to densely hairy, with inconspicuous, ± colourless glandular scales beneath; fls with cylindric, pale pink to rose hypanthium; fr. with or without whitish bloom
4. *sanguineum
Lvs hairy on veins, otherwise glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, yellow glandular scales beneath; fls with greenish or reddish orbicular hypanthium; fr. lacking bloom
1. *nigrum

150 spp., Eurasia, N. Africa, N., C. and Andean S. America. Naturalised spp. 5.

The spp. fall into 2 well-marked groups: subgen. Ribes, currants, with unarmed stems, jointed pedicels which disarticulate at fruiting, and racemes with > 5 fls; subgen. Grossularia (Miller) A. Rich, gooseberries, with spinose stems, unjointed pedicels which do not disarticulate at fruiting, and infls with up to 4 fls. The latter group has sometimes been segregated as the genus Grossularia L., but is relegated to subgeneric status by most authors. Most naturalised spp. are illustrated in Figs. 73 and 74.

Fig. 73. Fls of Ribes spp. A R. nigrum; B R. odoratum; C R. sanguinium. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X60]
Fig. 73. Fls of Ribes spp. A R. nigrum; B R. odoratum; C R. sanguinium. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X60]
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