Ribes maximowiczii Batal.

A deciduous unarmed bush, ultimately 6 to 9 ft high, the young shoots clothed with pale hairs, some of which are glandular. Leaves of the black currant type, three- or sometimes five-lobed, 2 to 5 in. wide and about as long, glossy dark green and thinly downy above, clothed beneath with soft pale down, especially on the veins; stalk 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, downy. Racemes slender, erect, 2 to 4 in. long, about 1⁄2 in. wide, main-stalk as well as individual flower-stalks very downy and glandular. Flowers 1⁄4 in. wide, dull lurid red; receptacle funnel-shaped, glandular downy. Fruits globose, 3⁄8 in. wide, orange-coloured or red and covered with stalked glands.

Native of W. China, from Kansu to Szechwan; discovered by the Russian traveller, Potanin, in 1885; introduced by Wilson in 1904 and again in 1908 and 1910. It is a curious and remarkable currant on account of the racemes and very glandular fruit and the lurid hue of the blossoms which open in May.