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| ## golden currant {#golden-currant .Title-Header}                     |
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| *Ribes aureum* Pursh var. *villosum* DC.                              |
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| Plant Symbol = RIAUV                                                  |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### 

## Alternate Names

Buffalo currant, fragrant golden currant, golden flowering currant,
clove currant, spicebush

## Uses

*Wildlife*: Fruits of *Ribes* species, including the golden currant, are
a valuable food source for songbirds, chipmunks, ground squirrels, as
well as numerous wildlife species and other animals.

*Ethnobotanic*: The sweet and flavorful fruits are full of seeds but are
popular for making jam, jelly, pie, and even ice cream. Some western
Indian tribes used currants (*Ribes* species) for making pemmican. The
Kiowa Indians believed that snakes were afraid of the currant bush and
used it as a snakebite remedy. Other tribes have used the fruits to
color clay pots.

*Conservation*: The fragrant (clove odor), golden-yellow flowers of
spring, yellowish to red fall foliage, edible fruits, and wide
ecological range make golden currant a valued ornamental shrub for a
variety of natural landscapes. Golden currant is easily cultivated from
seed or cuttings.![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.59375in"
height="3.8958333333333335in"}

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description 

*General*: Currant family (Grossulariaceae). A native shrub 1-3 m tall,
spineless, with numerous, erect-arching branches forming an irregular
crown up to 6 meters tall or more; bark gray to red-brown; rhizomatous.
Leaves deciduous, light green and glossy, alternate or clustered,
orbicular or cuneate-ovate with 3-5 rounded lobes, (0.6-)1-2.5(4.7) cm
long and wide, cuneate to subcordate at base, glabrous or sometimes
lightly hairy beneath. Flowers in short racemes of 5-10(-15), with the
fragrance of cloves; long-tubed (from fused sepals) and trumpet-shaped,
with 5 yellow sepal lobes spreading at the top, with 5, short, reddish
petals inserted at the top of the tube. Fruit a berry 6-10 mm diameter,
globose to ellipsoid, ripening from green to yellow to red and finally
black to dark purple, with numerous seeds. The common name pertains to
the conspicuous, golden flowers; "currant" is the general name for
*Ribes* fruit.

*Variation within the species:* *Ribes odoratum*, often considered a
distinct species, recognized by its considerably larger flowers, has
been placed (re-placed, as var. *villosum*) as the eastern segment of
the broader species.

Var. *aureum* -- (golden currant)

Var. *gracillimum* (Coville & Britt.) Jepson -- (golden currant)

Var. *villosum* DC. -- (fragrant golden currant, buffalo currant, clove
currant)

synonym: *Ribes odoratum* H. Wendl.

*Distribution*: Var. *aureum* is widespread in the western US and
southeastern Canada, with populations in Ontario and perhaps Quebec, as
far south in the US as trans-Pecos Texas. Var. *gracillimum* is endemic
to California. Var. *villosum* in the central US, from western Texas to
Montana and eastward to New York and Vermont; it is absent from the
Atlantic seaboard. The species is naturalized in Europe from garden
escapes. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page
for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

## Adaptation 

Golden currant grows in grasslands, coniferous forests and woodlands,
and riparian and mountain shrub communities. It occurs on floodplains,
along streams, in ravines and washes, by springs, and on mountain
slopes, at elevations of about 800--2600 meters. It is generally an
early to mid-seral species in western coniferous forests. Var.
*villosum* occurs on cliffs, rocky slopes, ravines, bluffs, open
hillside, and thicket margins, often in sandy habitats. Golden currant
is somewhat shade tolerant and may grow in open, scattered, and dense
pine stands, but it is usually suppressed by a denser canopy.

Flowering (March--)April--June, just after appearance of the leaves;
fruiting (May--)June--August.

## Establishment

Plants of *Ribes* generally begin fruiting after 3 years. Seeds may
remain viable in the soil and duff for many years. Germination is
enhanced by scarification, but relatively good germination of golden
currant seeds was obtained by stratification at -2.2--2.2 degrees C for
60 days without scarification.

Golden currant transplants well and forms suckers. Plants can also be
grown from cuttings. It reproduces vegetatively by rhizomes, sprouting
after cutting and fire.

## Management

Golden currant can be used to re-vegetate roadsides and disturbed areas,
such as mine spoils and rangeland. It is rated mostly good in initial
establishment, growth rate. persistence, germination, seed production,
ease of planting, and natural spread. It tolerates shearing and may be
used on dry, exposed sites in a range of soil types, and it is a good
soil stabilizer.

Golden currant is an alternate host for white pine blister rust
(*Cronartium ribicola*); this and other species of *Ribes* have been
targets of various eradication efforts where white pine is of commercial
interest. Please check the PLANTS Profile for this plant for links to
additional information.

Fire top-kills golden currant, but it can survive low- to
moderate-severity fire by sprouting from rhizomes. Such fires also
scarify soil-stored seed and enhance germination. Severe fire probably
kills golden currant and may destroy soil-stored seeds.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources. One
cultivar ('Crandall') has been referred to as \"the North Country\'s
answer to *Forsythia*.\" Other horticultural selections have been made
for hardiness, flower color and density, and fruit taste and size.

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

## References

Conrad, C. E. 1987. *Common shrubs of chaparral and associated
ecosystems of southern California*. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-99. USDA, Forest
Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station,
Berkeley, California.

Shaw, N. 1984. *Producing bareroot seedlings of native shrubs*. IN: P.M.
Murphy (compiler). *The challenge of producing native plants for the
Intermountain area*. Proceedings, Intermountain Nurseryman\'s
Association conference; Las Vegas, NV, 1983. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-168.
USDA, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station,
Ogden, Utah.

Wasser, C.H. 1982. *Ecology and culture of selected species useful in
revegetating disturbed lands in the West*. FWS/OBS-82/56. USDI, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Washington, DC.

Winkler, G. 1987 (rev. K.A. Marshall 1995) *Ribes aureum*. IN: W.C.
Fischer (compiler). *The fire effects information system* \[Data base\].
USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

### *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Dept., Davis,
California

Edited: 19jun02 jsp; 03jun03 ahv; 060816 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
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