English: Golden currant; Clove currant; Pruterberry; Buffalo currant
Region: Canada, United States, northern Mexico.
Habitat: drought tolerant.
Ecology: susceptible to white pine blister rust Cronartium ribicola.
Use: fruit usually cooked with sugar; flowers are edible; ornamental, in wildlife gardens, and natural landscaping projects.
BotanySmall to medium-sized deciduous shrub; 2 to 3 metres tall.
Leaves: green; with 3 or 5 lobes, turning red in autumn.
Inflorescence: racemes; clusters of up to 15.
Flowers: conspicuous golden yellow, some shades of cream to reddish; with a spicy fragrance like cloves or vanilla; hermaphroditic.
Fruit: berries about 1 cm in diameter from an early age; amber yellow to black when ripe; edible raw, but very tart.
Taxonomy: sole member of the section Symphocalyx.