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
Epicoccum nigrum versicolor", "E. vulgare", "E. granulatum", "E. menispermi", and "E. neglectum". More recently, two distinct genotypes for "E. nigrum" have been identified with the combined use of DNA sequencing, morphology, physiology, and recombination factors. This indicates the existence of cryptic species, and a subsequent call to re-classify "E. nigrum" into more than one species. Epicoccum nigrum Epicoccum nigrum is a species of fungus, in the phylum Ascomycota. A plant pathogen and endophyte, it is a widespread fungus which produces coloured pigments that can be used as antifungal agents against other pathogenic fungi. The fluorescent stain, epicocconone is extracted from it. "Epicoccum