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 thacherianum has five reflexed pink sepals around a tube made up of smaller white petals. The stamens and stigmas protrude from the corolla. The fruit is a purple berry about 7 millimeters wide which is covered densely in bristles and hairs. "Ribes thacherianum" is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, one of the northern Channel Islands of California, and within Channel Islands National Park. It grows in the pine woodlands of the coastal ravines. Ribes thacherianum Ribes thacherianum, with the common name Santa Cruz gooseberry, or Santa Cruz Island gooseberry, is a rare North American species of currant found only on one