1921 J Smiley: Flora of the Sierra Nevada of California 223 



9. RIBES 

 Shrubs without spines. 



Berry bright red; leaves obscurely lobed, %-1.5 inches broad; shrub of the 



high mountains 1. R. cereum 



Berry black; leaves distinctly lobed, 1.25-3 inches broad; shrubs of the 



Canadian and Transition zones. 

 Flowers less than y 2 inch long; leaves sparingly pubescent or glabrous; 



racemes dense 2. B. nevadense 



Flowers over ^ inch long; leaves glandular-pubescent; racemes loose 



3. R. viscosissimum 



Shrubs with spines. 



Bark gray, closely adhering to the branchlets, not papery. 



Flowers dark red; berry strongly spinescent 4. R. Roezli 



Flowers yellow; berry smooth 5. R. lasianthum 



Bark loosely adherent to the branchlets, yellowish or straw-colored, papery 

 in texture. 



Berry red, glandular-bristly 6. R. montigenum 



Berry purplish dark red, smooth '. 7. R. hirtellum var. inerme 



1. Ribes cereum Dougl., Bot. Reg., sub. pi. 1263. 1829. Trans. 

 Hort. Soc. Lond., vol. 7, p. 512. 1830. 



E. inebrians Lindl., Bot. Eeg., pi. 1471. 1832. 



B. Churchii Nels. and Kennedy, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. 19, p. 37. 

 1906 



Type locality. "On dry exposed decayed granite rocks or schist, 

 throughout the chain of the river Columbia from the great falls 45 

 degrees, 46 minutes, 17 seconds, N. lat. to the sources of that stream, 

 in the Rocky Mountains, 52 degrees, .07 minutes, .09 seconds." 



Range. Widely distributed in the western part of North America 

 from British Columbia to South Dakota, southward to California and 

 New Mexico. 



Zone. In the Sierran region, this shrub is confined to the high 

 mountains in the Canadian and Hudsonian zones, or locally rising 

 into the alpine region. This zonal position corresponds to Abrams' 92 

 report for southern California in the main ; he places it in the Cana- 

 dian; but it is in sharp contrast with what Piper 72 decides as to its 

 proper zone in the northwest : in Washington, its zonal position is 

 given as "Arid Transition and Upper Sonoran. " Wooton and Stand- 

 ley 110 assign Ribes inelrians ' (a form, in my opinion, incapable of 

 specific definition) to "Woods and canons, in the Transition Zone" 

 and further say "The common currant in our mountains at middle 

 elevations. ' ' 



Specimens examined. Mt. Rose, 10,800 feet, Kennedy 1160; Silver 

 Lake, Amador County, 7,200 feet, E. Mulliken 151; Howard Creek, 

 Sierra County, 7,000 feet, Hall and Babcock 4516 ; Mt. Rose, in granite 



