Click to read about the Ribes genus.

   To white flowering Ribes.  To yellow flowering Ribes.

Ribes montigenum (Mountain Currant, Prickly Currant)
Grossulariaceae (Gooseberry Family)

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands, streamsides. Spring, summer.
Above: Lower Calico National Recreation Trail, June, 2011; Sharkstooth Trail, June 24, 2014 and July 31, 2019.
Left and below: Lizard Head Trail, June 9, 2006, June 17, 2005, and June 16, 2016.

Our most common Ribes species and most prolific and reliable fruit producer is Ribes montigenum.  It has flesh-colored stems for its most recent year or two of growth, three large thorns at leaf nodes, and often has smaller spines along the stem.  Leaves are densely hairy, somewhat sticky, lobed, and cleft very deeply in three divisions.  Hundreds of delicate, pink-to-coral flared bell flowers cloak the plant in late spring and early summer.  Pedicels and calyces are covered in minute, glandular, sticky, aromatic hairs. Notice that the petals (innermost whorl in the perianth) are smaller than the outer sepals.

A plant with rare creamy white flowers greeted us June 16, 2016.  

"Montigenum" (monti gene um) is from the Latin for "mountain born".  Ribes montigenum was first collected in 1893 in the California Sierras by McClatchie and he named the plant in 1897.

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands, streamsides. Spring, summer.
El Diente Trail, August 29, 2005 and Upper West Mancos Trail, October 1, 2010.

Normally, even in dry years, most flowers mature and produce a hearty crop of tasty berries.  In the continuing drought of 2003 and again in 2018, 2021, and 2022 however, we found almost no berries; in other years berries were abundant and tasty.

Fall color is usually shades of yellow.

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands, streamsides. Spring, summer.
Lizard Head Trail, September 15, 2010.

The dark hairs covering the berries might dissuade you from putting these fruits in your mouth, but the hairs are soft and you won't even notice them as you enjoy the delicate sweetness of these abundant Ribes.  The hairs are the same ones you see surrounding the ovary at the base of the petals in several photographs above. The hairs are glandular and undoubtedly their sticky secretions contribute to the pleasant flavor of Ribes montigenum.

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands, streamsides. Spring, summer.
Kilpacker Trail, August 19, 2019.

In some years, or in some locations, defoliated Ribes montigenum are a common site. I cannot find accurate information on the cause of the defoliation, but it appears to me to be caused by an insect that creates a webbing as it decimates the plant. I also do not know how much permanent damage the defoliation causes, but I do not think it is significant.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Ribes montigenum