Gray Dogwood vs American Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Gray Dogwood vs American Black Currant

Ribes americanum

Cornus racemosa

CUSTOM GROW

CUSTOM GROW

American Black Currant
Gray Dogwood

American Black Currant is a native deciduous shrub known for its clusters of small black berries that ripen in mid-to-late summer. The berries are edible and have long been used for fresh eating, preserves, and baking. They provide food for birds and mammals, and their fragrant spring flowers attract bees and other pollinators.

American Black Currant’s foliage serves as a host plant for butterfly species such as the Green Comma and Gray Comma, and its dense branching offers cover for wildlife. The shrub has traditionally been planted in shelterbelts, riparian buffers, and restoration projects.

Gray dogwood is a thicket-forming, deciduous shrub with greenish-white blossoms in open, terminal clusters. Young twigs are red and the fruit pedicels remain conspicuously red into late fall and early winter.

Fruit itself is a white, 1/4 in. drupe that usually does not remain on the shrub for long.

Great for naturalizing wild areas, this shrub attracts birds and other wildlife.

American Black Currant Quick Facts

Gray Dogwood Quick Facts

Zone: 2a
Zone: 4a
Height: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: any
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: slow
Life span: medium
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to spreading, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - medium
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium


Fall colour: gold to red
Fall colour: deep, reddish puple
Flowers: small, yellowish bell-shaped, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: tart, variable
Harvest: mid to late summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB
Native to: MB, ON, QC
Other Names: eastern black currant, wild black currant