A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Ribes curvatum Small

Modern name

Ribes curvatum Small

A low, deciduous, bushy shrub 3 ft high; the shoots glabrous, purplish, armed with slender, simple or triple spines. Leaves roundish, usually 1 in. or less in diameter, three- to five-lobed, toothed, slightly downy; stalk slender, downy. Flowers produced singly or in pairs (rarely more) on pendent stalks, white. Receptacle bell-shaped with linear, much reflexed sepals 14 in. long; petals very short, white; ovary covered with resinous glands; stamens 14 in. long, erect, both they and the style downy. Fruits globose, glabrous, 13 in. across, purplish green.

Native of the south-eastern United States, hardy. I brought plants from the Arnold Arboretum to Kew in July 1910, which, so far as I am aware, were the first introduced to this country. R. curvatum is, however, no longer represented at Kew. It is closely allied to R. niveum, which it resembles in its white flowers and downy style and stamens, but the glandular ovary and often glabrous anthers are different. R. curvatum is also much dwarfer in habit, and comes from the opposite side of N. America.


Genus

Ribes

Other species in the genus