How do you recognise Alpine currant (Ribes alpinum)?

Leaf

Salicyna, Wikimedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Alpine currant

Ribes alpinum L.

Also known as: Mountain currant

Family: Grossulariaceae

1 to 1.3 m tall

Mountain woods and rocky ground in the wild, also very widely planted in clipped urban hedges

Flowering: April – May

Full sun

Part shade

Shade

Very hardy, to about -15°C or even lower

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

Its clusters of small red berries recall those of the redcurrant, but they are bland and of no culinary interest — alpine currant is above all planted as a hedging shrub, not as a soft fruit. Alpine currant resembles redcurrant in its thornless habit and small red berries, but its greenish-yellow flowers are gathered in upright (not pendent) racemes, its leaves are smaller and not aromatic when crushed, and above all its berries are bland and of no culinary interest, unlike those of the redcurrant.

🍃 Leaves

Small (3 to 5 cm), palmate, 3 to 5 toothed lobes, almost hairless, satiny, not aromatic when crushed unlike blackcurrant

🌸 Flowers

Small, greenish-yellow, gathered in upright racemes (unlike the pendent racemes of the redcurrant); dioecious plant, male flowers with more stamens than female flowers

🍎 Fruits

Small smooth, shiny red berries, in groups of 2-3 in upright racemes, edible but bland and insipid

🪵 Bark

Grey-brown, thornless

🗺️ Distribution

Europe; in France occurring wild in woods and rocks of the East, Centre and South-East (mountains), absent as a native from the North and West; very widely planted everywhere in clipped urban hedges

🐝 Value for pollinators

Early nectar-rich flowering, visited by bees despite inconspicuous flowers

✂️ Horticultural uses

Much used as a low clipped hedge in towns for its toughness and shade tolerance, unlike fruiting currants grown for their fruit

⚠️ Possible toxicity

No known toxicity; berries edible but insipid, of no culinary interest

⚠️ Look-alike species

Alpine currant

Ribes alpinum

Redcurrant

Ribes rubrum

Alpine currant resembles redcurrant in its thornless habit and small red berries, but its greenish-yellow flowers are gathered in upright (not pendent) racemes, its leaves are smaller and not aromatic when crushed, and above all its berries are bland and of no culinary interest, unlike those of the redcurrant.

🌿 Other Grossulariaceae to discover

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.