Red Flowering Currant - Ribes Sanguineum, species information page. Also known as Flowering Currant, winter Currant

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Red Flowering Currant

Red Flowering Currant - Ribes Sanguineum
Family - Grossulariaceae
Also known as - Flowering Currant, winter Currant

Red Flowering Currant is a precocious deciduous plant with an early display of red flowers in showy pendulous highly scented clusters often at high densities. The plant is an excellent early nectar source for bees. The flowers are quickly followed by dentate serrated five lobed light green Palmate leaves with very distinct veining. The leaves have a strong scent when crushed. It is a very common garden plant grown for its early display of showy red flowers, it has many cultivars with flowers ranging from white through ping to dark red, some have received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit with the variety "King Edward VII" appearing to be very popular. We believe our specimen to be this variety.

It is a North American species native to the western United States and Canada, found elsewhere in the wild from plants dumped or escaped from gardens. It grows to around 2.2m (7ft) tall with a similar spread and broad. It has woody red coloured stems similar to Dogwood. Dangling racemes 3–7cm (1–3in) long of 10–30 flowers each flower 5–10mm (0.20–0.39in) in diameter, bell shaped with five red or pink petals appear from the stem nodes, the leaves very quickly afterwards.

FBCP do not advise or recommend that Red Flowering Currant – Ribes Sanguineum is eaten or used as an herbal remedy. Red fruits mature to black berries that are supposedly edible but with an insipid taste.

			Photo ©2009 Pink Cascades
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