[The Currant and Gooseberry Family East of the Cascade
Mts. of Oregon and Washington]
Hall's Sticky Currant, Mountain Currant, Sticky Currant
Ribes viscosissimum
Synonyms: Ribes hallii, Ribes viscosissimum var. hallii, Ribes viscosissimum var. viscosissimum
This photo shows a close-up of the glandular inflorescence and leaves of sticky currant as seen along forest road #4030 on the eastern slopes of Mt. Misery in the Umatilla N.F. of southeastern Oregon.........July 7, 2008.
Photo
at right of a pink flowered form of sticky currant from the Reecer Creek Rd #35, on
Table Mt., Wenatchee N.F.......June 23, 1997.
Characteristics:
Sticky currant is an unarmed shrub from 1-3 meters high with
an aromatic odor. Its growth habit is erect to spreading, and it is often rather
straggly. The young stems are hairy and glandular, aging to reddish-brown and
glaucous. The bark often shreds. The leaves are orbicular to kidney-shaped with
a shallow to deeply heart-shaped base, usually with 5 lobes, the lobes lined
with coarsely toothed margins. They essentially look like miniature maple leaves.
The blades are covered with soft, sticky hairs on both surfaces and measure
2.5-7.5 cm across. The petioles are densely glandular-hairy.
The inflorescence is a more or less drooping (spreading, drooping,
or arching from the leaf axils) raceme of 3-13 bell-shaped flowers. The racemes
measure 3-13 cm long. The flowers are each 2 cm long. The calyx is a cylindrical
tube with 5 erect, greenish-yellow lobes. The 5 petals are cream-colored and
2.5-4 mm long. The fruit is a black, glandular berry without a bloom and from
8-11 mm long.
The plants are an alternate host for white pine blister rust
(plant disease) The plants are berries are not palatable to animals nor humans.
The plants are among the first shrubs which are found in clearcuts and burnt
areas at higher elevations.
Habitat:
Sticky currant is found on moist, warm and moist, and cool sites
in grand and subalpine fir (subalpine coniferous forest) plant communities.
Range:
Sticky currant is found from British Columbia south to the east
of the crest of the Cascades to California, and eastward to southwestern Alberta,
Montana and Colorado.
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These 3 photos show close-ups of the flowers of sticky currant as seen along forest road #4030 on the eastern slopes of Mt. Misery in the Umatilla N.F. of southeastern Oregon.........July 7, 2008.
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Close-up images of the maturing fruits of sticky currant as seen along the Round Mountain Trail #805, Ochoco National Forest...........August 9, 2014.
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Sticky currant blooming at the junction of the Roads End and Onion Creek Trails, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness...........August 3, 2011.
The photo above shows close-up of the leaf of sticky currant as seen along Forest Road #4650 (Table Mt. Road) several miles to the west of Coyote Campground in the northern Wallowa-Whitman National Forest............June 26, 2008.
White flowered form of sticky currant seen along Forest Service Road #635, Wenatchee National Forest...........June 5, 2009.
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A close-up of a pink-tinged inflorescence of sticky currant as seen at left on Wedge Mountain, Wenatchee National Forest..........June 8, 2009. The photo at right shows a pink-flowered form of sticky currant as seen along the Twin Pillars Trail #832 about one mile south of the trailhead at Bingham Springs, Mill Creek Wilderness......May 25, 2018.
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Sticky currant observed along the Pine Creek Trail #201 between the Roads End Trailhead and the junction with the Onion Creek Trail #368, Malheur National Forest and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness......July 7, 2023.
Paul Slichter