[Gooseberries and Currants: The Genus Ribes in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]

Blue Currant, California Black Currant, Stink Currant

Ribes bracteosum

Flowers of Blue Currant, California Black Currant, Stink Currant: Ribes bracteosum

A close-up of the flowers of Ribes bracteosum from Latourell Falls in the Columbia River Gorge..............mid-May, 2001.
Stink Currant: Ribes bracteosumThe photo at right is of stink currant from Latourell Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.
Characteristics:

Stink currant (sometimes called blue currant) is an aromatic (malodorous) shrub with erect growth habit from 1-3 meters in height. The leaves are orbicular, 10-20 cm across with heart-shaped bases, and 5-7 narrow lobes with sharply double-toothed margins. The upper leaf surfaces are glandless and sparsely hairy while the lower surfaces are sticky glandular.

The inflorescence are ascending to erect racemes from 10-23 cm long with many flowers. The flowers are saucer-shaped and range from 1-1.5 mm deep. The 5 sepals are pale green to whitish and spreading. The petals are small and white. The stamens are roughly the same size, or slightly longer than the petals. The style is divided about halfway to its base. The fruits are bluish-black with a white bloom and many yellow glands.

Habitat:

Stink currant is typically found in dense thickets along streams and in moist, shady woods at all elevations.

Range:

Stink currant is found from Alaska to California, It is found entirely west of the Cascade crest in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Upper leaf surface of Blue Currant, California Black Currant, Stink Currant: Ribes bracteosum

The photo above shows a close-up of the upper surface of a leaf of stink currant. Photographed in moist forest along the eastern edge of Swampy Meadows on the western slopes of Mt. Adams........August 11, 2008.

Dorsal leaf surface of Blue Currant, California Black Currant, Stink Currant: Ribes bracteosum - Ventral leaf surface of Blue Currant, California Black Currant, Stink Currant: Ribes bracteosum

The photo above shows aclose-up of the upper leaf surface (left) and lower leaf surface (right) of stink currant. Click each photo to see an enlarged view. Photographed in moist forest along the eastern edge of Swampy Meadows on the western slopes of Mt. Adams........August 11, 2008.

Blue Currant, California Black Currant, Stink Currant: Ribes bracteosum

The photo above shows stink currant as photographed in moist forest along the eastern edge of Swampy Meadows on the western slopes of Mt. Adams.........August 11, 2008.
Paul Slichter