Red-fruited currant

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Survives zone 4 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

A true narrow endemic, known only from the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, including inside Crater Lake National Park, on rocky subalpine ground. Scarlet, egg-shaped berries; specific taste and quality are not documented in any source found, unlike most currants and gooseberries in this catalog.

Hardiness

Zone 4–7

Habit

Groundcover

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer

Mature size

Trailing, with vertical branches to about 20 cm (8 in)

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.0–6.5 (acid to mildly acid)

Environment

Subalpine

Native range

Cascade Mountains, Oregon, including Crater Lake National Park — rocky slopes in subalpine forest.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs, with full bearing at 4–5 yrs

Growth speed

20–40 cm/year — medium.

Spacing

100 cm (39 in) apart — about 1 m² (11 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Rounded and shallowly 3–5 lobed, 2.5–5 cm wide with blunt rounded teeth, thin-textured and nearly hairless, carried on trailing stems that root as they run.

Root system

Shallow and fibrous, spreading laterally close to the surface rather than going deep — so it resents drought and competes badly with turf, but transplants easily.

Fruit description

Scarlet, egg-shaped berries about 6–8 mm long, following unusual copper- to salmon-coloured flowers; edible and acid, though sparingly borne on this low trailing shrub.

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings taken during dormancy in late autumn root readily and are the standard method. Seed needs about three months moist cold stratification at 4°C; layering the low branches also works.

Pollination

⚠ Cultivated currants and gooseberries are reliably self-fertile, but this is a wild species and the evidence differs: studies of wild Ribes (including R. nevadense and R. viscosissimum) found that essentially all seed-bearing fruit came from insect cross-pollination, with self-pollinated fruit selectively aborted. Plant two or more, and expect bees to matter — bee visitation measurably raises fruit set, fruit size and seed number.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.