Sunday, April 5, 2009

Favorite NW native plant: Red Flowering Currant

I am no flora photographer but I have to document this plant. This is by fair my favorite NW native shrub. It is a great landscape plant as it is deer resistant. But, it also makes great habitat for birds during the summer and provides fruit for wildlife in the fall and winter.

Love it!

Wiki says:

Ribes sanguineum (Flowering Currant or Red-flowering Currant) is a species of currant native to western coastal North America from central British Columbia south to central California.

It is a deciduous shrub growing to 4 m tall. The bark is dark brownish-grey with prominent paler brown lenticels. The leaves are 2-7 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with five lobes; when young in spring, they have a strong resinous scent. The flowers are produced in early spring at the same time as the leaves emerge, on racemes 3-7 cm long of 5-30 flowers; each flower is 5-10 mm diameter, with five red or pink petals. The fruit is dark purple oval berry 1 cm long, edible but with an insipid taste.

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