What shrub, alternate maple-shaped leaves, purple fruits like beaded curtains

I don't know if this is something everyone but me knows, but I don't remember it. I first noticed the maple-shaped leaves, but the fruits are so wrong and the leaves are alternate, so that was just a distraction. I next noticed the hippie room divider arrangement of the small fruits, less than 1 cm.

 

Hi Wendy, Is this a maple leaf viburnum ?

 

Thank you, Acerholic. I don't know. Nadia posted fruits from Viburnum acerifolium in 2012, not having the same curtain effect, and I don't know from where in the garden. My database list does not show this name (nor does it show V. densiflorum, an alternate name I have found), and Garden Explorer shows only one, in the Carolinian Garden. This plant is in the Asian Garden, on Lower Asian Way at the entrance to the Wilson Glade.

 

Good evening Wendy, the wikipedia photos shows fruit and leaves very much like that in your photos.

Viburnum acerifolium - Wikipedia

 

I typed this last night, apparently I didn't post it or it didn't load:

Might this be planted? Because there is a similarity to Ribes bracteosum, but it appears to be a different species.

The critical information you have added today that it is in fact in the Lam Garden supports my earlier suspicion that it is an Asian Ribes related to or otherwise resembling R. bracteosum.

 

Ribes longeracemosum
Ribes longeracemosum - thornless blackcurrant | UBC Botanical Garden

Earlier it would have had full chains of fruit. It's lovely.

 

Funny - I remember typing the location last night! [Edited - oh, that was this morning]

Thank you. There is a Ribes longeracemosum that seems to be in the right place on Garden Explorer, called R. sanguineum on my database listing.

I see that Ribes is the only genus in the family Grossulariaceae.

 

@Eric La Fountaine, thank you! I was typing when you posted that.

 

I see Flora of China recognizes 4 vars. I'll be expecting Wendy to report back next year on which of these the UBC plant she photographed is, after she has a chance to study the flowers.

 

I'm sure the folks at UBCBG will be eager to hear what I have to say. :)
I've set a reminder for next April.
Ribes longeracemosum in Flora of China @ efloras.org

 

Key characteristics don't require flowers, it should be identifiable to variety right now.

 

Hmm, ok.
1. Leaf blade is not pubescent, rules out Ribes longeracemosum var. davidii

2. Leaf blade, calyx and fruit are not pubescent, rules out Ribes longeracemosum var. pilosum

Leaf blade is not sparsely to densely pubescent abaxially, rules out Ribes longeracemosum var. davidii; there is a clear photo on Garden Explorer.

3. I didn't measure the racemes and pedicels. Branchlets and abaxial leaf blade veins are not shortly glandular hairy (1st and 3rd photos above) should rule out Ribes longeracemosum var. gracillimum
From the Garden Explorer photos, they look more like "Racemes 15-25(-30) cm, pedicels 4-10 mm; branchlets and abaxial leaf blade veins usually not shortly glandular hairy", which would be Ribes longeracemosum var. longeracemosum.
In that fruit photo, there are a lot of short hairs, but I guess those are on the racemes, not the branchlets.

 

Yes, @Douglas Justice should be able to confirm when he is at the Garden tomorrow, @Eric La Fountaine can update the database if he agrees.

 

Well, wasn't this my lucky day - I had it on my calendar to go see the flowers on this Ribes longeracemosum, and it's in peak bloom!
That looks a little less exciting than it sounds, but I think this has to be what they do. The petals are supposed to be subflabellate, not a word any website wants to translate, but from the etymology of some plant that has a version of this word in its species name, it seems to mean "fanlike", and Ribes longeracemosum in Flora of China @ efloras.org says these petals are half as long as the calyx lobes, not a great feature for petal display. Still, the plant was glistening in the sun, easy to find right on Lower Asian Way just to the west of the Wilson Glade, and I was super excited.