The names "Currant" and "Gooseberry" are used interchangeably for various members of the Ribes genus, but no distinguishing characteristics help separate Currants from Gooseberries; what one person calls a Currant, another calls a Gooseberry.  Common names often lump different species of plants together. (Read about plant names.)

     The name "Ribes" is of disputed meaning: one version states that "Ribes" comes from the Danish "ribs", a name for red currants.  Another version is that "Ribes" is from the Arabic name for similar plants.  We do know that Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.

   To white flowering Ribes.  To yellow flowering Ribes.

Synonym: Ribes coloradense.  Ribes laxiflorum.  (Currant)
Grossulariaceae (Gooseberry Family)

Montane, subalpine. Openings, sparse woodlands. Summer.
Road to Spiller/Helmet Ridge, June 19, 2007.

It is easy to pass this Ribes thinking it is Ribes wolfii, for the leaves are very similar.  A closer look will show that the leaves of R. coloradense are considerably larger and its leaf lobes are not as rounded.  The texture of the leaves is also different.  R. coloradense overall tends to be a more dense shrub;  R. wolfii has an open, airy growth form.  The habitat and flowers most easily separate the two: R. coloradense enjoys open, sunny locations; R. wolfii is often found in thicker woods on very rocky slopes.  The flowers of R. coloradense are pink and arise from last year's growth, usually under the new year's leaf growth.  (See the photograph below, left.)  R. wolfii flowers are showy white and arise on the new growth above the new leaves.

Weber separates the two species, R. coloradense and R. laxiflorum but the Intermountain Flora, Utah Flora, USDA Plant Database, Four Corners Flora, and John Kartesz combine the two under the name R. laxiflorum.  Intermountain Flora indicates, "... R. laxiflorum  and R. coloradense are the same taxon and cannot be separated even at the varietal level."

In 1814 Frederick Pursh named R. laxiflorum from a specimen collected in approximately 1792 by Archibald Menzies.  Frederick Colville applied the name R. coloradense in 1901 to a specimen collected in Colorado by C. L. Shear in 1896.

Synonym: Ribes coloradense.  Ribes laxiflorum.  (Currant)
Grossulariaceae (Gooseberry Family)

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Road to Spiller/Helmet Ridge, June 19, 2007.