Family |
Grossulariaceae
Ribes orientale
Desf.
Ribes orientale Desf.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 193; 1969. First published in Histoire des Arbres et Arbrisseaux 2: 88, 1809)
• Life-form & habit: Low, irregularly growing deciduous shrub, 50–100 cm tall, dioecious, often deformed and impoverished by grazing; older stems strongly lignified, young parts densely covered with glandular, viscid, odorous hairs.
• Leaves: Palmatilobed, 3–5 lobes, margins with obtuse teeth; young leaves slightly wrinkled.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Axillary racemes, erect, somewhat elongated, each flower subtended by a bract equalling the pedicel. Flowers greenish, calyx and corolla of similar color. Racemes relatively short and not very floriferous.
• Fruit: Reddish, setulose, inedible berry.
• Phenology: Flowers May–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Montane and subalpine woodlands, intact or degraded, in high altitudes.
• Lebanese distribution: Recorded from ‘Aqoura to Yammouné, the Cedars, Ehden forest, Hadeth Cedars, Dennié, Sir-ed-Dennié, and Mount Hermon.
• Native range: Greece, Türkiye, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Himalaya