Golden Currant
Ribes aureum
Family Grossulariaceae
Small to medium-sized deciduous shrubs 6-10 feet tall. This species blooms in spring with golden yellow flowers, often with a pronounced fragrance similar to that of cloves or vanilla. Leaves turn red in autumn. The shrub produces berries about half an inch in diameter from an early age. Ripe fruits, amber yellow to black in color, are edible, and attract a wide range of birds.
Part sun to shade in the low desert, moderate water with good drainage, hardy to - 30° F.
The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Fruits attract many birds. Larval food plant for the Western Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma californica), Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis), Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Aglais milberti), Satyr Comma (Polygonia satyrus), Green Comma (Polygonia faunus), and the Tailed Copper (Lycaena arota). There are several other Ribes species native to our region worth looking into for upper elevations.
Used on sores and for swellings, applied to snakebites, the berries eaten raw, dried and stored, made into cakes, jams, and the stems were used for arrows.
Ribes is from the Syrian or Kurdish ribas, which is derived from an old Persian word, while aureum means golden. There are 206 species of Ribes native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Found in moist soils on slopes in canyons or along streams from 4,000-7,000 ft. thickly populated throughout the western and midwestern states, and scattered in some of the northeastern states of the U.S.