Garden and orchard · Ribes rubrum (Rote Johannisbeere)
Discovering redcurrant
Red necklaces in the garden? Puschel marvels at the currants. Look with Flauschi at how the little fruits hang together.
The short answer
Redcurrants hang in elongated strings of many small rounded berries. The shrub has lobed leaves. Its berries often look slightly translucent.
An imagined Wusel scene
Puschel and Flauschi investigate
Puschel holds an empty basket low in front of him. Puschel“Red necklaces are hanging there!”
Flauschi bends sideways and giggles. Flauschi“They are strings of fruit, not beads on a necklace.”
Puschel looks at the lobed leaves. Puschel“We leave the decoration growing and ask adults before tasting.”
The fruit
Redcurrants hang in elongated strings of many small rounded berries.
Leaf and plant
The shrub has lobed leaves. Its berries often look slightly translucent.
What makes it special
There are also white and black currants. Blackcurrants belong to a different species.
Try explaining it
How do redcurrants hang on the bush?
Choose a), b) or c), then explain your choice.
- a)As one large compound fruit made of many joined parts.
- b)Individually on long stalks like some cherries.
- c)Many separate berries in a long cluster.
Show the explanation
Correct: c): Many separate berries in a long cluster.
Redcurrants hang in elongated strings of many small rounded berries. The shrub has lobed leaves. Its berries often look slightly translucent.
Word help
- fruit cluster
- Several fruits attached together on one part of a plant.
Explore in more detail
Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.
Is a bunch of currants one fruit?
A currant cluster has many separate berries on small stalks. Each develops from its own flower and can contain several seeds. The whole bunch is not a single large seed container. A group of fruits in this arrangement is called an infructescence, or fruit cluster.
Compare and understand
Red and white currant varieties are closely related; blackcurrants are a different species. Colour is a clue here, not a universal rule for plants. Draw a known cluster’s shared stalk first, then the separate berries, to show their arrangement.
Sources for this explanation
An optional question for further exploration
You can use the longer explanation above. This is extra, not needed for the first quiz.
An extra question
Are redcurrants and blackcurrants just different colours of the same species?
Show answer
No. Blackcurrants belong to a different species from redcurrants.
May we taste unknown berries based on a picture?
Show answer
No. Never taste unknown berries. Adults help identify known edible fruit safely.