Wild Black Currant

Ribes americanum

Flowering shrub with erect branches on multiple stems. Lobed alternating leaves are one to three inches wide. This bush is a pollinator plant and a host plant for beneficial insects.

People enjoy this bush for its foliage and fragrant yellow flowers.  Blooms appear in May and small, edible black berries come in late summer. Hummingbirds enjoy the nectar, while other birds eat the berries and insects. The Green Comma Butterfly, Currant Fruit Fly larvae, and various other wildlife, including squirrels, and chipmunks, enjoy this bush.

Plant in the open woods, thickets, marshy sites, or on stream banks.

Do not plant near White Pines. This plant can host White Pine Blister Rust.

Current Sale Size: 1 gallon pot

Growth Rate: Rapid (10-15" / year)

Soils: Sand, Loam, Clay

Moisture: Moist

Shade Tolerance: Sun, Shade, Part Shade

Mature Height: 3-6 ft.

Deer Damage Potential: Low

Trees4Bees!: This plant has been specially selected by our staff in partnership with local entomologists to support native bees and other pollinators critical to the ecosystem and human food systems. A community pollinator survey revealed that trees may represent the bulk of floral resources in spring, supporting pollinators that then benefit relatively sparse woodland ephemerals and early spring crops. In the fall, woody shrubs support the hibernation of some cavity-nesting native bees and other pollinators.