42 HANDBOOK 14 8, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



1. Plants without sagebrush odor and taste. 

 2. Leaves palmately 3- to 7-lobed. [Alternate 2, p. 48.] 



3. Bark shreddy or peeling in long strips or layers; stipules (or 

 their scars) at leafstalk bases; flowers, fruits stalked, in stalked, 

 umbrellalike end clusters (corymbs). 



4. Leaves bluntly 3- to 5-lobed, slightly heart-shaped or 

 rounded at base, to 3 inches wide, often red by late July; 

 leaf margins doubly scallop-toothed; leafstalks to 1 inch 

 long; stipules soon falling; hairs star-shaped; seed pods 

 (follicles) 2 to each flower, persistent ; bark peeling in many 

 layers, grayish brown; rootstocks long, spreading, yellow 

 inside; burned or cutover areas, rocky dry hillsides, washes, 

 open woods, or roadsides; common, Wallowa, Blue Mts., 

 ne. Oreg., se. Wash. 



mallow ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus). 



4. Leaves sharply 5- to 7-lobed, deeply heart-shaped at base, 

 to 8 inches wide, yellow or brown in fall; leaf margins doubly 

 saw-toothed ; leafstalks often as long as leaf blades ; stipules 

 attached to leafstalk bases, persistent; hairs simple, gland- 

 tipped; thimbleberries soon falling; bark shreddy, brown; 

 several -stemmed shrub; root crown erect, woody, elongated; 

 moist, shady woods, common in e. Oreg., e. Wash. 



western thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus). 



3. Bark not shreddy or peeling in long strips or layers as above; 



stipules lacking; flowers, fruits jointed to bracted stalks 



pedicels), in stalked end clusters (racemes) ; berries falling free 



from stalks when ripe currants (Ribes spp.). 



5. Leaves shiny pale green, firm, almost fleshy and translucent, 

 deeply 3- (rarely 5-) lobed, square-cut or wedge- or heart- 

 shaped at base, unrolling lengthwise from bud; leaf margins 

 entire or with a few large, rounded teeth; flowers clear 

 yellow, tubular, shallowly lobed; currants yellow, red, or 

 black; erect shrubs, to 8 feet high; common along streams 

 or moist hillsides, e. Oreg., e. Wash.; type locality, banks of 

 Columbia River golden currant (Ribes aureum). 



5. Leaves not as above, unfolding from bud in accordionlike 

 pleats. 



6. Under leaf-surface dotted with tiny yellow resin drops; 

 leaves maplelike, thin, with distinctive, unpleasant odor 

 when crushed; leaf margins sharply, irregularly toothed; 

 leafstalks often longer than leaf blades; flower clusters 

 erect, slender; currants black, resin-dotted. 

 7. Leaves to 10 inches wide, 5- to 7-lobed; leafstalks usu- 

 ally with long bristly hairs near bases; flower clusters 

 to 8 inches long; flower-stalk bracts often leaflike, longer 

 than flower stalks; currants with whitish "bloom"; 

 shrubs to 12 feet high; common w., occasional e. slopes 

 of Cascades, Oreg., Wash.; type locality, near mouth of 



Columbia River stink currant (Ribes bracteosum). 



7. Leaves to 5V 2 inches wide, 3- to 5-lobed; leafstalks 

 usually without bristly hairs near base; flower clusters 

 to 6 inches long; flower-stalk bracts not leaflike, shorter 

 than flower stalks; currants without whitish "bloom"; 



