White-flowered currant

Photo: Anthony Valois and the National Park Service — Public domain · source

Survives zone 5 through 9

Harvest calendar

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

Fragrant white flowers in pendulous sprays from late autumn into winter, an unusually early bloomer. Exceptionally drought-tolerant. Fruit is a hairy, sticky purple berry, edible, under 1 cm across.

Hardiness

Zone 5–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Spring–summer

Mature size

To about 1.8 m (6 ft) tall, 1 m (3 ft) wide

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

6.0–8.0 (neutral to alkaline)

Environment

Mediterranean, chaparral

Native range

Southern California — Coast, Transverse and Peninsular Ranges from around Santa Barbara County south into northern Baja California.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs, with full bearing at 4–5 yrs

Growth speed

20–40 cm/year — medium.

Spacing

120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Rounded and shallowly 3–5 lobed, 1–4 cm across, thick, wrinkled and sticky-hairy with a resinous scent when brushed; unarmed, as currants are.

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

Round purple berries under 1 cm across, covered in sticky glandular hairs and borne in short drooping clusters; edible but resinous and seedy, and far better cooked into jelly than eaten raw.

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.