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Ribes oderatum (Golden Currant)

Ribes oderatum (Golden Currant)

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Golden currant (Ribes odoratum), also called clove currant, announces spring with fragrant yellow flowers. Its open branches and lobed leaves give this thornless shrub an informal character, while dark purple-black fruit adds another season of interest.

Plant specifications

Key growing facts

Sunlight Full sun to partial shade
Height Usually 6–8 ft; published range to 12 ft
Bloom season Spring; April in Missouri accounts
Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
Growth habit Open, multistemmed shrub; root suckers can enlarge the clump

Plant identification & seed reference

Botanical name Ribes odoratum
Other common names Golden currant; Clove currant
Plant family Grossulariaceae

Where to plant

Choose sun to partial shade and allow room for a substantial shrub. Accounts commonly describe plants around 6–8 feet tall, with a wider published range reaching 12 feet. An informal hedge or roomy shrub border gives its branching form space to develop.

Establishment & care

Root suckers can expand the clump. Keep the perimeter accessible if you want to limit its spread, or allow several stems to develop where a broader thicket fits the planting. Place it where you can enjoy the spring fragrance at close range.

Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associatesNo verified list yet

A species-level list has not yet been verified for this listing.

Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value

State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.

Wetland indicator — Corps Chicago 2017 table Midwest: FAC; Northcentral/Northeast: FACU (USACE Chicago FQA 2017)
C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 0
Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 No
Native range — U.S. states Arkansas; Colorado; Iowa; Kansas; Michigan; Minnesota; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; New Mexico; North Dakota; Oklahoma; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas; Wisconsin; Wyoming
County nativity Not yet verified; occurrence records do not establish nativity.
Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlifeNo verified list yet

No additional named relationships have been verified for this listing.

Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions

What are the ideal growing conditions for Golden Currant?
Light: Full sun to partial shade.

Is Golden Currant deer and herbivore resistant?
Species-specific deer resistance has not been verified here. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.

When should I expect Golden Currant to bloom?
Typical flowering period: Spring; April in Missouri accounts. Timing varies with location and weather.

Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes

Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; USACE Chicago FQA (2017); Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online.

Growing conditions & other references: Oregon State University Landscape Plants; Missouri Botanical Garden; Missouri Botanical Garden; Missouri Botanical Garden; Missouri Botanical Garden; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Wildlife records: Smith et al.: pollen-host records (2025).

Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.

Research notes & credits

USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication.

Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.

Smith et al. (2025) — pollen-host literature dataset. Smith, C., Bachelder, N., Russell, A.L., Morales, V., Mosher, A.R. & Seltmann, K.C. (2025), Oecologia 207:13, DOI 10.1007/s00442-024-05653-5. Data release 14757220, CC BY 4.0; selected genus-level pollen-host records from russell_formatted-15Aug2024.csv summarized. Family records and model predictions excluded; no endorsement implied. CC BY 4.0.

Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.

Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.

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