A present from David Douglas

It must be spring - the flowering currants are flowering!

Flowering Currants Ribes sanguineum are popular garden shrubs in the UK but are not a native species. Their natural range is Western coastal North America from central British Columbia south to California.

The plant was introduced into cultivation by the 19th century Scottish botanist David Douglas (1799 - 1834). Douglas worked as a gardener, but is best remembered as a plant collector and explorer of the Scottish Highlands, North America, and Hawaii. He died under mysterious circumstances while climbing Mauna Kea in Hawaii at the age of 35. It seems that he fell into a pit trap where he was crushed by a bull that had fallen into the same trap. He was last seen alive at the hut of an Englishman, Edward Gurney, a bullock hunter and escaped convict.

Douglas introduced several hundred species of plants to Great Britain and hence to Europe. In recognition of his scientific work some eighty species of plants and animals are named after him, carrying the specific epiphet douglasii. The commercially important Douglas Fir refers to him, but the tree's scientific name, Pseudotsuga menziesii, honours a rival Scots botanist Archibald Menzies.