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Blackcurrant

Ribes nigrum

Also called Black Currant, European black currant, Cultivated Black Currant, Garden Black Currant

Blackcurrant
Photo: Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 3.0

Blackcurrant is a deciduous shrub grown for its small glossy black berries, which are rich in vitamin C. It thrives in cool, moist, fertile soil and needs good winter chill to fruit well.

Family
Grossulariaceae (Grossulari family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep soil consistently moist, especially during fruit swelling in summer; mulch to retain moisture.
Soil
Fertile, moisture-retentive loam with good drainage and pH around 6 to 7.
Temperature
Winter hardy to about -30 °C; cold snaps at flowering can reduce the crop.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Europe to Russian Far East and C. Asia
Climate
temperate

About

The blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum), black currant or cassis is a deciduous shrub in the family Grossulariaceae grown for its edible berries. It is native to temperate parts of central and northern Europe and northern Asia, where it prefers damp fertile soils. It is widely cultivated both commercially and domestically.

It is winter hardy, but cold weather at flowering time during the spring may reduce the size of the crop. Bunches of small, glossy black fruit develop along the stems in the summer and can be harvested by hand or by machine.

How to grow it

Cultivation in Europe is thought to have started around the last decades of the 17th century.

Other Ribes plants

American black currant · Golden currant · Stinky Black Currant · Hillside gooseberry · Wax currant · Spreading gooseberry · Miccosukee gooseberry · Skunk currant · Northern black currant · Whiteflower currant · Prickly currant · Laurel Leaved Currant

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Blackcurrant by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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