Spicebush vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Spicebush vs Northern Black Currant

Lindera benzoin

Ribes hudsonianum

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CUSTOM GROW

Spicebush
Northern Black Currant

The Spicebush is an unique ornamental shrub that blooms with vibrant yellow flowers and bright green foliage. The foliage goes from green to yellow in the autumn, adding fall interest to your garden.The plant is dioecious, meaning that you will need male and female plants in order to harvest it’s red berries. Berries are only produced on female plants. The berries themselves aren’t that sweet, and are mostly enjoyed by birds and other wildlife.

The Spicebush, also commonly known as Common Spicebush, Northern Spicebush, Wild Allspice, and Benjamin Bush, is named after its distinctive spicy-sweet fragrance that comes from the flowers.

Northern Black Currant is a native deciduous shrub found across Canada and the northern United States. Dark purple to black berries that ripen in summer and provide food for wildlife and humans. Fragrant yellow-green flowers that attract a wide variety of pollinators.
This shrub is well adapted to moist soils and can even survive periods of flooding. It has an interesting bronze colour in fall.

Spicebush Quick Facts

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 4a
Zone: 3a
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: any
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: slow
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: fragrant
Flowers: greenish yellow
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Berries: red
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: bitter
Harvest: mid to late summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: ON
Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, YT, NT
Other Names: benjamin bush, common spicebush, northern spicebush, wild allspice
Other Names: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant