The names "Currant" and "Gooseberry" are used interchangeably for various members of the Ribes genus, but no distinguishing characteristics help separate Currants from Gooseberries; what one person calls a Currant, another calls a Gooseberry.  Common names often lump different species of plants together. (Read about plant names.)

     The name "Ribes" is of disputed meaning: one version states that "Ribes" comes from the Danish "ribs", a name for red currants.  Another version is that "Ribes" is from the Arabic name for similar plants.  We do know that Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.

   To red flowering Ribes.  To white flowering Ribes.

Foothills.  Shrublands, meadows, streamsides.  Spring.
Near Yellowjacket Canyon, April 16, 2004.

Golden Currant’s delicate lemon flowers show brightly in early spring green foliage. The flowers will be followed by golden, then orange, then red, juicy and very tasty berries. Golden Currant is relatively uncommon in the Four Corners area, but it can sometimes be found in abundance in the foothills along streams and ponds. Its gently scalloped leaves often change to deep maroon in the fall.

Ribes aureum was first collected by Meriwether Lewis in April of 1806 in what is now the state of Washington "on the banks of the rivers Missouri and Columbia". (Lewis' words as quoted in Intermountain Flora.) Pursh named and described the plant in his Flora of North America, 1814.  "Aureum" is Latin for "gold".

Foothills.  Shrublands, meadows, streamsides.  Spring.
Near Yellowjacket Canyon, April 16, 2004.

Foothills.  Shrublands, meadows, streamsides.  Spring.
Near Yellowjacket Canyon, June 26, 2004.

Sweet and ready to eat.