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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Ribes spicatum; photograph Марина Садыкова, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYМарина Садыкова, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Ribes spicatum E.Robson

Downy currant; Nordic currant; Northern red currant; Red currant

Grossulariaceae · Denmark, Finland +29

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Ribes spicatum, photograph Oleg Kosterin, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFRibes spicatum, photograph Perry Gunnar Larsen, CC BY, via GBIFRibes spicatum, photograph Екатерина Гущина, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFRibes spicatum, photograph Екатерина Гущина, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFRibes spicatum, photograph Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFRibes spicatum, photograph Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-19.4°C
Record low -33.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
20°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
742mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
1–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Ribes spicatum, the downy currant or Nordic currant, is a species of shrub in the family Grossulariaceae, native to northern Europe and northern Asia. Its bright red berries are edible and quite good‑tasting. It can be differentiated from the more common redcurrant (Ribes rubrum) not so much by its leaf hairs, as these tend to fall off as the leaf ages, but by other characteristics: the leaves of R. spicatum are a duller and darker green than R. rubrum with its paler yellowish‑green leaves. R. spicatum holds its leaves at a right angle to the stem, whereas R. rubrum leaves are less erect, markedly distinguishing the overall form of the bushes. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ribes spicatum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Ribes

Ribes is a genus of approximately 200 known species of flowering plants, predominantly native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Ribes is the sole genus in the plant family Grossulariaceae. The genus includes species commonly referred to as redcurrants, blackcurrants, whitecurrants, and gooseberries. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Ribes", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (566 mm of 736 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 23.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Rain

736 mm in the median year at the habitat, 566 mm of it June to January. Wettest month August at 87 mm, driest month April at 36 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 620 mm to 1,060 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 742 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 736 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 1 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 0, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -19.4 °C, the absolute minimum -33.3 °C, 7,497 frost nights in 44 years, 170.4 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 23.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -9.6 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -14.1 °C to -0.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 19.8 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -19.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 71% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +18 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Ribes spicatum through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 20 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low -9.6 °C; 736 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-40°-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost23.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-33.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 1–34RH 57–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1407 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-4 / -9–3-4 / -9–30 / -4–66 / 2–1013 / 8–1617 / 13–1920 / 16–2218 / 14–2013 / 9–167 / 2–121 / -4–7-2 / -8–4
Night °C-9 / -15–-1-10 / -14–-1-6 / -10–1-1 / -5–35 / 1–810 / 6–1213 / 10–1512 / 8–148 / 4–113 / -2–7-2 / -9–3-7 / -14–0
Rain mm54 / 40–9140 / 31–6743 / 32–7336 / 31–6151 / 40–7372 / 59–9186 / 67–11587 / 71–10968 / 57–9975 / 58–11966 / 51–10858 / 44–89
DLI2 / 0–46 / 3–814 / 11–1625 / 23–2733 / 30–3634 / 32–3833 / 27–3624 / 20–2815 / 11–187 / 4–102 / 1–51 / 0–3
RH %71 / 66–7570 / 65–7365 / 62–6760 / 58–6257 / 56–6158 / 56–6260 / 59–6362 / 61–6464 / 62–6768 / 64–7170 / 66–7471 / 67–75
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1407 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1565 records in those cells; 26 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 546:3948 (62.675, 17.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -33.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -19.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 23.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1407 distinct grid cells holding 1565 of the 1594 in-range records (26 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 546:3948 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 62.50_17.500, lapse-corrected +18 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 132 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Romania, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Amur, Khabarovsk, Magadan, Primorye, Kazakhstan, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Mongolia · introduced: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Krym · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker60.882, 24.317 · in the densest population, 505 records (27% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1873 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1565 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1594 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1516 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 7 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 279 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1873 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Ribes spicatum, photograph 1did not loadRibes spicatum, photograph 2did not loadRibes spicatum, photograph 3did not loadRibes spicatum, photograph 4did not loadRibes spicatum, photograph 5did not loadRibes spicatum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Oleg Kosterin, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Perry Gunnar Larsen, CC BY, via GBIF; Екатерина Гущина, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Ranunculus reptans Ranunculus reptans Creeping spearwort Photo: CC BY, Sam TurnerAnthoxanthum nitens Anthoxanthum nitens Sweet grass Photo: CC BY, Christian KortnerNymphaea candida Nymphaea candida White water lily Photo: CC BY, Мирослав СоболевGalium trifidum Galium trifidum Three-petal bedstraw Photo: CC BY, Allison GrayEquisetum pratense Equisetum pratense Meadow horsetail Photo: CC BY, snaily_nailyLuzula pallescens Luzula pallescens Fen Wood-rush Photo: CC BY, Dmitriy Bochkov

Other Ribes 77 in the reference

Ribes aciculare Ribes aciculare Grossulariaceae Photo: CC BY, K.P.Ribes alpestre Ribes alpestre Grossulariaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Christian Hummert (Ixitixel)Ribes alpinum Ribes alpinum Mountain currant Photo: CC0, author not statedRibes amarum Ribes amarum Grossulariaceae Photo: CC BY, George WilliamsRibes americanum Ribes americanum Wild black currant Photo: CC BY, Sam TurnerRibes aureum Ribes aureum Golden currant Photo: CC0, author not statedRibes biebersteinii Ribes biebersteinii Grossulariaceae Photo: CC BY, Екатерина КравцоваRibes bracteosum Ribes bracteosum Stink currant Photo: CC BY, Moe MeikleRibes burejense Ribes burejense Stinky black currant Photo: CC BY, Jane CharlenRibes californicum Ribes californicum Hillside gooseberry Photo: CC BY, jayjtRibes cereum Ribes cereum Wax currant Photo: CC0, author not statedRibes ciliatum Ribes ciliatum Grossulariaceae Photo: CC BY, nebrooks all 78 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Grossularia rubra; Ribes petraeum var. spicatum; Ribes pubescens. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Grossulariaceae
Described by
E.Robson
Native to
Denmark, Finland, Great Britain +28
Wild records
1873 in range · 1516 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 13 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 62.50_17.500, lapse-corrected +18 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 93 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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