Ribes rubrum L., Red Currant
Account Summary
Introduction, neophyte, an uncommon garden escape. In its native range, sub-oceanic temperate, but widely naturalised.
21 August 1986; McMullin, A.S., Corbett, P. & Phillips, J.C.L.; Inisherk Island, Crom Castle Estate.
May to September.
Growth form, status and preferred habitats
Although in parts of Britain this shrub may perhaps be native, in their catalogue of B & I alien species, Clement & Foster (1994) accept it as native only, "with reservations". In Ireland, R. rubrum is always considered a garden escape. Red Currant does occasionally appear in rather drier scrub, hedgerow and roadsides situations, in which cases it is often, but not always, near habitation. Discarded plants are also more rarely found on waste ground where tipping occurs. Nowhere is this species likely to persist long, especially in any dry ground situations.
Fermanagh occurrence

Although not recorded in Fermanagh until 1986, there are now records of Red Currant from 22 tetrads, 4.2% of those in the VC. The shrub is uncommon and local, occurring most frequently as isolated bird-sown bushes in swampy lakeshore fen-carr woods or scrubland. It is becoming quite frequently associated with Fermanagh lake islands.
It is possible that some of the Fermanagh records could be mis-identifications for R. nigrum (Black Currant), but the plants at Lurganboy near Pettigo, for instance, were in fruit and are definitely assigned correctly.
Irish occurrence
Along with several other Ribes species, this is one of the plants which is much less frequently recorded in the RoI than elsewhere in these islands. Inspection of the New Atlas hectad map highlights the widespread coverage Red Current exhibits in NI, and the contrasting scattered scarcity of it south of the political border (Preston et al. 2002).
Seeing this, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that some Irish recorders must still follow Praeger's example (eg in Irish Topographical Botany) and deliberately overlook this species. This may be an unfair, out-of-date suggestion, however, since the spread of post-1986 symbols on the New Atlas map clearly shows that R. rubrum has been more frequently recorded throughout the whole of Ireland in more recent years. Also, while the Irish Census Catalogue (Scannell & Synnott 1987) listed this shrub as having been recorded at least once in just 13 VCs, in her more recent Alien Catalogue, Reynolds (2002) increased that figure by a further ten, without either reference including Fermanagh!
Threats
Bushes occasionally naturalise themselves in woodland, but Red Currant is insufficiently aggressive to pose any invasive threat.