Native Garden Plant Factsheets

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Red-Flowering Currant (W̱IW̱QIȽĆ / xʷixʷk̕ʷiɬč)

English Name(s): Red-Flowering Currant, also Flowering Currant, Red Currant, & Redflower Currant
Scientific Name: Ribes Sanguineum
SENĆOŦEN Name: W̱IW̱QIȽĆ (bush), W̱IW̱Q¸ (berries)
lək̓ʷəŋən Name: xʷixʷk̕ʷiɬč (bush), xʷixʷk̕ʷ (berries)

Fun Facts:
This plants grows 1-3 metres tall with crooked stems and a reddish-brown bark. The 2-6 cm broad alternating leaves have 5 lobes, and emits a sage-like smell in the heat. The flowers are between white, pink and deep red, drooping in clusters of 10-20 flowers, each 1cm in length. The berries are blue-black with a white waxy texture with glandular hairs.

Traditional Uses:
Although the berries of this plant are edible, they were not highly regarded as they lack flavour. They would be eaten with a combination of oher berries like those of salal, either fresh or packed into a cake for the winter. Coast Salish children could get in trouble for breaking the flowers of this plant, as it supposedly made it rain.

Blooms: February to April
Season: August to September
Habitat: Mostly dry open woods, but also rocky or disturbed sites like roadsides and clearings, in middle to low elevations
Range: West of the Cascade Mountains from Southern British Columbia to Central California, with some patches in Northern Idaho

Further Sources:

• https://nativeplantspnw.com/red-flowering-currant-ribes-sanguineum/

• Saanich Ethnobotany by Nancy J. Turner & Richard J. Hebda

• Plants of Coastal British Columbia by Jim Pojar & Andy MacKinnon