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Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Shrubs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)

General: Wax Currant (Ribes cereum) is the most common shrub in the higher mountains around Las Vegas. The leaves are small and fan shaped with crinkly edges. The flowers are long and tubular, and the fruit is a red, edible berry with the tubular flower-structure still attached. The stems lack spines (in contrast to Desert Gooseberry). In the fall, the leaves turn golden yellow before dropping for the season.

Wax Currant usually is the most common shrub in montane communities in the upper Transition (Yellow Pine Forest), Canadian (Pine-Fir Forest) and lower Hudsonian (Bristlecone Forest) life zones.

Family: Gooseberry (Grossulariaceae).

Other Names: Gooseberry

Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)

Plant Form: Upright shrub, sometimes forming thickets.

Height: Waist-high, occasionally taller.

Bark: Reddish, aging to gray.

Stems: Erect, many branches, without spines.

Leaves: Blade 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long, round, shallowly lobed, finely toothed, upper surface glossy; odor spicy.

Flowers: Inflorescence raceme of 3–7 flowers. Flower: tubular about 1/3-inch long; sepals white to pink at base of tube.

Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)

Seeds: Fruit: berry, 1/3-inch diameter, red. Seeds tiny.

Habitat: Dry mountain slopes, mostly rocky areas, open forest, and in forest openings.

Elevation: 5,000 to 11,000+ feet.

Distribution: Western U.S. from California to British Columbia, east to the central states.

Comments: Gooseberries and Currants are in the same genus (Ribes) and closely related. Gooseberries can be recognized by the presence of spines on the stems and spiny hairs on the berry, while Currants generally lack spines.

Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Fall on Mt. Charleston
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Fall on Mt. Charleston
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum) Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum) Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Leaves round, shallowly lobed, and crinkly
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Leaves round, shallowly lobed, and crinkly
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Leaves round, shallowly lobed, and crinkly
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Underside of leaf
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Stem bark gray
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Stem bark gray
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant in flower
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant in flower
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum) Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum) Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum) Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant ripe fruits
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant new and ripe fruits
Wax Currant (Ribes cereum)
Wax Currant ripe fruit
more to come
More to come ...

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
copyright; Last updated 220815

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