A sturdy unarmed shrub, said to become 9 to 11 ft high; young shoots glabrous or nearly so. Leaves three- or five-lobed, 2 to 31⁄2 in. long and wide, heart-shaped at the base, glabrous above, downy only on the veins beneath, and with scattered glands which impart a somewhat disagreeable odour to the leaves when rubbed; stalk downy and glandular. Flowers greenish white, themselves short-stalked, but closely set on erect long-stalked racemes 1 to 11⁄2 in. long; the stalks and ovary covered densely with stalked glands. Fruits 1⁄3 in. wide, roundish ovoid, glandular, purplish black. Bot. Mag., t. 8120.
Native of Colorado, New Mexico, etc.; introduced to Kew in 1900, where it is very hardy and fruits freely. Its only interest for the garden is in the blue, ultimately black, glandular fruits arranged densely in more or less erect spikes. It belongs to the same group of currants as R. sanguineum, but has none of the flower beauty of that species.