Ribes aureum Pursh

Horticultural & Botanical History

Ribes aureum Pursh. and Ribes odoratum Wendl.f., which see, may well be geographic forms of the same species, Ribes odoratum occurring to the east of the Rockies and Ribes aureum to the west, originally found in the “Narrows of Columbia” [IPNI]. 

‘[Ribes aureum Pursh is a] native of north America, where it has been found in upper Louisiana on the banks of the Missouri, by Messrs. Bradbury and Nuttall; also on the other side of the Rocky Mountains on the banks of the Columbia by Captains Lewis and Clarke, in the celebrated journey across the American continent to the Pacific sea, performed by those officers at the order of the government of the United States.  In Mr. A. B. Lambert’s Herbarium there are specimens from each of these quarters, which seem to differ in no other respect, than that some of those from the Atlantic side of the Rocky Mountains are more conspicuously pubescent, and with larger bractes than those from the side next the Pacific.  With us this pretty shrub has as yet no other value than that which arises from a colour and fragrance of blossom unlooked for in this genus; but in its native place it is highly prized for the excellence of the fruit, which is said to be larger than any of our more common garden sorts.’  [BR f.125/1816].  Ribes aureum was introduced to Europe in 1812.  [JD].  See also Ribes odoratum Wendl.f.

History at Camden Park

Listed in all published catalogues [T.829/1843].

Notes