ABSTRACT
Ribes is the only genus in the family Grossulariaceae and contains approximately 160 species. Flowers of Ribes are generally hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, with an inferior ovary which contains numerous ovules. In the black currant, flowers are arranged in racemes with one to ten flowers in each raceme and one to four racemes per bud. The red currant has 6 to 20 flowers per raceme, but generally only one raceme per bud. Gooseberries carry their flowers singly or in pairs. Gooseberries initiate flowers along the whole stem with many cvs producing floral initials in the terminal bud as well. The plant’s response to daylength helps to explain the differences found in time of flower initiation between different latitudes.In southerly latitudes, the critical daylength is probably never exceeded and plants can initiate flowers as soon as they attain a “ripeness to flower”.
