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Ribes sanguineum
Also called Redflower currant, Flowering Currant, Winter Currant, Blood Currant
A deciduous shrub from western North America, grown for its early spring flowers that open with the leaves. Plant it in a sheltered spot with some sun and good drainage, and it will tolerate dry summers once established.
Ribes sanguineum, the flowering currant, redflower currant, red-flowering currant, or red currant is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Grossulariaceae. It is native to the western United States and Canada.
R. sanguineum was introduced into cultivation in Britain in the fall of 1826 by Scottish botanist David Douglas, via seeds he had sent back during his explorations for the Royal Horticultural Society in the Pacific Northwest. It and its varieties and cultivars became immediately popular among English gardeners. The noted botanist and RHS member John Lindley remarked:
It remains a popular garden shrub, valued for its brightly colored and scented flowers in early spring, and birds and habitat support. Numerous cultivars have been selected with flowers ranging from white to dark red. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:
It is native to the western United States, Canada and Mexico. In western British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, it is distributed widely in the moist regions west of the Cascades. In California it is restricted to areas near the coast, and can be found as far south as Santa Barbara County. In Mexico, it is only found on the Pacific island of Guadalupe, where it may be extirpated. Although its conservation status is secure across the rest of its range, in Idaho it is critically imperiled and is found only rarely in Bonner, Kootenai, Benewah, and Adams counties.
The berries are edible but of poor flavour.
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 Ribes sanguineum 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.
