Ribena pure fruit syrups for the manufacture of milkshakes had been done at the Long Ashton Agriculture and Horticulture Research Station in North Somerset using a pectinase enzyme process; Ribena was essentially invented there by Vernon Charley, a scientist at the University of Bristol in 1933. The blackcurrant variety was found to contain high levels of vitamin C. The drink was launched in 1938 under the name Ribena (from the botanical name for the blackcurrant, "Ribes nigrum"). During the Second World War, other fruits rich in vitamin C, like oranges, became almost impossible to obtain in the United Kingdom, due to
Ribes sericeum be over a centimeter (0.4 inch) long. The leaves are up to 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) long and are divided into several lobes with toothed edges. The leaves are hairy and glandular, especially on the undersides. The inflorescence is a solitary flower or a raceme of 2 or 3 flowers. Each flower has five reflexed green, red-tinged or red sepals around a tube-shaped ring of smaller whitish petals. The fruit is a purple berry up to 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) long which is covered in bristles. Ribes sericeum Ribes sericeum is a species of currant known by the common name