Buffalo Currant (Ribes odoratum)
At a glance
- Lifecycle
- Perennial (hardy)
- Exposure
- Full sun
- Frost limit
- −28.9 °C
Cultivation
Easily grown in a moisture retentive but well-drained loamy soil of at least moderate quality. Hardy to about -25°c. A very ornamental plant. This species is closely allied to R. aureum. Occasionally cultivated for its edible fruit, there are some named varieties. This species succeeds in regions having hot summers. Plants often produce suckers, especially when growing in damp soils. Plants can harbour a stage of white pine blister rust, so should not be grown in the vicinity of pine trees.
Propagation
Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed requires 3 months cold stratification at between 0 and 5°c and should be sown as early in the year as possible. Under normal storage conditions the seed can remain viable for 17 years or more. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter, planting them out in late spring of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 10 - 15cm with a heel, July/August in a frame. Cuttings of mature wood of the current year's growth, preferably with a heel of the previous year's growth, November to February in a cold frame or sheltered bed outdoors. Division of suckers in the dormant season. They can be planted out direct into their permanent positions.
Edible uses
Fruit - raw or cooked. Flowers - raw. A sweet taste. The leaves can be used to make a tea or as a flavouring in foods.
Medicinal uses
a poultice of the plant has been applied to snakebites.
Habitat
Rocky bluffs and slopes, also along the sides of streams.
Native range
Central N. America - Saskatchewan and Minnesota, west to the Rockies and south to Texas.