Royle ex Decne.
Description
Ribes himalense Royle ex Decne. is a deciduous currant of the Himalaya and the mountains of western China. Its native range, reflected in GBIF records from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan, China and Myanmar (with numerous European and North American records representing cultivated or naturalised material), spans the Himalaya into the Hengduan ranges. It inhabits subalpine forest, forest margins, streamsides and rocky slopes, typically between about 2,500 and 4,000 m. The plant from Meggu Kichatti in Garhwal at 3,200 m, fruiting in June, illustrates its occurrence in the upper temperate to subalpine belt.
The species is an erect, unarmed (spineless) shrub up to about 1–2 m tall with glabrous to glandular young branches. The alternate leaves are palmately three- to five-lobed, cordate at the base, with serrate lobes, glabrous or sparsely hairy. The flowers are borne in erect to spreading racemes; each flower has a shallowly saucer-shaped, greenish to purplish hypanthium, small reflexed sepals and minute petals, and is subtended by a bract. The fruit is a smooth, glabrous, red berry that is edible, ripening to a translucent crimson.
Ribes himalense belongs to the subgenus Ribes (the true unarmed currants) and is closely related to the European R. rubrum, with which it shares edible red fruit; it has been treated by some authors as a subspecies. The fruits are gathered locally and consumed, and the species is of interest as a wild relative of cultivated currants for breeding. It is widespread and of least concern.
Author: Royle ex Decne. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Pakistan, Berger: A Taxonomic Review of Currants and Gooseberries