Northern Black Currant vs Falsebox - TreeTime.ca

Northern Black Currant vs Falsebox

Ribes hudsonianum

Paxistima myrsinites

CUSTOM GROW

CUSTOM GROW

Northern Black Currant
Falsebox

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.

Falsebox is a hardy, native evergreen shrub found in forests, rocky slopes, and open woodland sites. Though small and easily overlooked among the leaves, the maroon flowers still supply nectar and pollen for pollinators such as native bees and flies. Blooming in spring, they provide an important early-season food source. Its year-round greenery adds visual interest through the winter.

Falsebox is a low-growing shrub that tolerates a wide range of conditions, including drought once established. It thrives particularly well beneath the shade of mature trees, where few other plants succeed. With its resilience and ecological value, Falsebox is well-suited for naturalization, restoration projects, and diverse landscape plantings.

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Falsebox Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 5a
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Height: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: slow
Life span: medium
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Growth form: prostrate to spreading
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Spreading: layering - medium
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: evergreen, leathery leaves
Bark: reddish-brown
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Flowers: small, maroon-purple, fragrant
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Bloom time: summer
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: bitter
Harvest: mid to late summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, YT, NT
Native to: AB, BC
Other Names: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant
Other Names: false box, mountain boxwood, mountain lover, myrtle boxwood, oregon boxleaf, oregon boxwood