Seeking buffalo currant (forum)

Tommoz starts with ...
Ribes odoratum/aureum. Alternatively known as clove currant, crandleberry, golden currant and Missouri currant. The good thing about it is that it is lower chill than regular currants.

Time: 6th February 2014 7:02pm

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jakfruit etiquette says...
I grew seedlings years ago, yellow fruit was very tiny, never many set, not sure if there are better selections ?

Time: 22nd February 2014 5:56am

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Tommoz says...
Hmm not sure that was it. It is called golden currant because of the flowers, the fruit is black. Crandall is supposed to be the best cultivar, conflicting info on the chill requirement however.

Time: 22nd February 2014 11:24am

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jakfruit etiquette says...
Heres the source
http://www.plantsofthesouthwest.com/Golden-Currantbri-Ribes-aureum/productinfo/S2800/
But you are right seems to be black types also, best if you nail down a better type for seed propagation.

Time: 22nd February 2014 4:36pm

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BenW says...
Parr's nursery, Corbago, NSW has them.

I have a couple of plants that are growing fine in a cool area of Victoria.

I am yet to get fruit to ripen however - not sure if this is due to a need for cross pollination (I expect mine are both propagated from the same plant), it being a sterile cultivar, or me just being impatient, so I can't tell you how it compares to black currants for flavour

I'm sure I will eventually get at least one or two fruit and I might see if I can raise a more prolific variety...

Time: 24th February 2014 3:53pm

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About the Author BenW
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Tommoz says...
Thanks Ben. I found out about Parr's in another thread. Unfortunately, his have never produced fruit, probably because it is ribes aureum, which is dioecious and he has clones all of the same sex.

I've found out that ribes odoratum is actually different although many do not make this distinction. But this is supposed to be self fertile.

Time: 24th February 2014 6:10pm

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BenW says...
When I got mine a few years ago, I did look for other sources of plants but couldn't find any. Good luck! (and post on the forum if you do).

I am fairly sure neither species is on the banned list, so you could import seed without too much expense if you found a supplier in the US?

I seem to remember that my bush had a few smallish fruit that aborted, or the birds got this year, but I may be thinking of my flowering currant, which did mature a few fruit.

I live in one of the few parts of Australia where ribes do well and grow a number of gooseberry and currant cultivars, which could potentially be pollinating it. I will pay more attention next year and maybe try to hand pollinate.

I have considered trying to cross mine with some black currants and gooseberries, to see if the seedlings have low chill requirements.

Time: 28th February 2014 1:27pm

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About the Author BenW
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BenW says...
After doing a little reading it seems I might be on the right track. Ribes sanguineum (flowering current) can cross with Ribes odoratum/aureum http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/Botanic/Plant.aspx?p=27&ix=9&pid=0&prcid=0&ppid=0

I'm not sure how many people would be growing both close together, which might explain the fruit I (possibly)observed.

If my Parr's plant is female, a hybrid of it with sanguineum might make a suitable pollination partner. If it's male, a couple of generations back crossing might result in something fairly close to a buffalo current (but with fruit).

They only take a couple of years to fruit from seed I believe, so it would be doable. It would probably just be easier to import some pure Buffalo Current seed though...

Time: 28th February 2014 1:51pm

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JohnO says...
Spring Park Nursery sell Ribes aureum, but it is not available at present. I recently enquired and was told that it will next be available in the spring. Some but not all of their products are available for mail order - I don't know whether this will be one of them. The nursery is near Daylesford, VIC; their website is http://www.springparknursery.com.au/

The wholesale nursery Flemings lists Ribes odoratum on their website, but I do not know which retail outlets would carry it. See http://www.flemings.com.au/ornamental_details.asp?CULT_ID=RIBEODOR


Time: 1st March 2014 2:29pm

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About the Author JohnO
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Tommoz says...
Great find JohnO.

I guess I never saw it on Flemings website because it is listed as an ornamental. Good news is they mention the fruiting quality of the plant, so it is odoratum I am definitely after. With any luck it will be the crandall cultivar. My guess is Flower Power could stock them.

Most ribes aureum probably dont fruit as there is no mention of it on Spring Park Nursery's web site. Also I think the aureum are dioecious, another obstacle.

Time: 1st March 2014 2:48pm

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JohnO says...
With regard to dioecy or monoecy, note that the Flemings webpage describes Ribes odoratum as dioecious. There appears to be some differences of opinion about both R. odoratum and R. aureum in this regard, as follows.

The following sources all claim that Ribes odoratum is dioecious:
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/r/ribodo/ribodo1.html
http://wp.nres.uiuc.edu/plant/ribod40
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=m110
http://www.fruitipedia.com/clove_currant_ribes_odoratum.htm

The following claims that Ribes odoratum may not be dioecious:
http://waldenheightsnursery.com/store/bush-small-fruit/currants/crandall-currant

The following sources claim that Ribes aureum is monoecious:
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=706
http://www.fourdir.com/p_golden_currant.htm

The following source claims that Ribes odoratum is hermaphrodite:
http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Ribes+odoratum

The following sources claim that Ribes aureum is hermaphrodite:
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Ribes+aureum
http://theplantencyclopedia.org/index.php?title=Ribes_aureum
(The latter recommends cross-pollination for increased yield.)

I have one Ribes odoratum purchased from Parrs two years ago. It has flowered but not produced fruit. This appears to be consistent with BenW's experience.



Time: 2nd March 2014 9:57pm

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jakfruit etiquette says...
Is it possible that with a wild species, their may be regional variation in monoecy/dioecy, or even variable subspecies, not yet seperated ??

Time: 3rd March 2014 7:32am

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Tommoz says...
Kudos to you JohnO for all the research.

One can't be sure what is being sold from Parr's. His catalogue has odoratum syn. aureum, meaning he thinks they are the same. Anyway, whatever he has, he has never gotten any fruit and he's been selling them for 20 years. He can't remember where he got the stock from.

Someone from Flemings got back to me this morning. Apparently they are no longer selling ribes odoratum and the request has been made to take it down from the web site. Maybe some of their stockers still have them though.

Time: 3rd March 2014 10:36am

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BenW says...
I have picked up some cuttings from someone growing them from as ornamental. Unfortunately they couldn't tell me whether they fruited. Maybe I will be able to check back and see in a few months.

Fingers crossed they are pollination compatible with my ones from Parrs. They grow fast and flower from a small size so I should know within a year or two, hopefully.

I'd likely have some cuttings to distribute at about the same time.

I might swing by the Daylesford nursery listed above too in a few months. Not that far from me and will maximize my chances of fruit. There have to be compatible pollination partners somewhere in Australia...

Time: 21st July 2014 4:39pm

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Tommoz says...
I will be germinating some ribes aureum seeds so I'll see what develops. I was wrong about the chill, they are high I believe.

Time: 21st July 2014 6:45pm

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BenW says...
I paid closer attention this year and I definitely get fruit on the Parrs sourced plant...

The majority fall off however I have a few that might make it to maturity. In the second photo, I squished one and it looks like embrionic seeds to me.

I did have some cuttings of R. aureum villosum nearby that had a few flowers. We'll see what the fruit set is like next year once the cuttings are a bit bigger :)
Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2

Time: 30th October 2014 12:41pm

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