It is a currant, a Ribes species.

It reminds me of a currant. If it has thorns, and I'm just not seeing them, I'd revise that to gooseberry. Please do not eat it based purely on my guess, though.

I'll check tomorrow to see if it has thorns and also if there is more than one plant. I don't think that it was fragrant.

Jay, if I have a plant to share, I'm sure you have something of interest to me. I lurk quite often at The Native Forum.

I was thinking it might be a Jostaberry. The GW trader later sent me some Jostaberries, but they didn't make it.

Hi Jay,

I remember you from way back from 2007 at the seed exchange.

Did you go by a different GW name back then? When GW changed to HOUZZ, I think many members had to go with new names; thus, I am unfamiliar with today's members.

There are no stickers or thorns. There is a sucker I might be able to share, but it is right up next to a tree, so it will have to be dug out with great care. It's also possible that I could air layer some starts.

Are you looking for any plant in particular?

Goodness yes. There are many plants I'd love to acquire.

More on that later. I sent you a message about emailing or calling me. I don't think I can be messaged via HOUZZ at this time.

I can safely say it isn’t a Jostaberry.

I grew clove currant, Ribes odoratum, for years in a previous garden and to my eye, it and golden current, Ribes aureum, are almost interchangeable. Odoratum tends to be native to the eastern half of the country with R. aureum more populous in the west. I believe there is now a current botanical consensus that odoratum is just a varietal form of aureum (Ribes aureum var. villosum).

Based on the photos and limited description, I'm pretty certain it is a Ribes but which species/varietal may be up for some discussion :-)

Both are thornless and the fruit rather insipid and not favored by humans except for a couple of cultivated forms like 'Crandall'.

These and flowering current, Ribes sanguineum, tend to be popular with all manner of pollinators. Ribes sanguineum is an extremely popular nectar source for overwintering hummingbirds here.

There is zero doubt as to it's being a Ribes.

@Jay, according to my sources they are not synonymous but two separate varietals of the species. Golden currant = Ribes aureum var, aureum and clove currant = Ribes aureum var. villosum/Ribes odoratum.

ETA: Sorry for the repetition - we were typing at the same time. The fragrance was not strong enough for me to detect until I stuck my nose in a flower. And then a definite carnation-y/clove scent.

I'm not sure what nettles have to do with currants, and if the information on Wikipedia bothers you so, you could fix it, should you feel so inclined ... anyone can, which, of course, is the inherant risk of Wikipedia.

The exact taxonomy and botany is really beyond what most take away from this forum ... I mean, if this were my question, I'd have been pretty happy with knowing the plant was a currant and whether it is R. aureum or R. odoratum and whether those were the same or not is a bit over my head ... that being said, I do enjoy my rabbit holes of research, so ...

I can find sources (none of which are Wikipedia) that state both ways:

Missouri Botanical Garden states that they are related species and can be listed as variants. This is from their article on R. aureum :

"Ribes odoratum primarily native from Minnesota and South Dakota south to Louisiana and Texas, is closely related to the species herein and is now being listed in some references as Ribes aureum var. villosum."

Oregon State University seems to concur with the concept that R. aureum Pursh and R. odoratum are subspecies of R. aureum ... var. aureum and villosum, respectively:

"Three varieties or subspecies are recognized by the USDA PLANTS database (all have Golden Current as one of their common names):

• Ribes aureum var. aureum, the type variety, syn. with Ribes aureum Pursh. Native range is from British Columbia east to Saskatchewan, south to western Nebraska, Colorado, and northwestern Texas, west to Los Angeles, California, and north to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range.
• [...]
• Ribes aureum var. villosum DC, syn. with Ribes odoratum. Native range from North Dakota to east to Minnesota and south to Texas and Arkansas."

Oklahoma Biological Survey, however, lists:

Ribes aureum Pursh

Family: Grossulariaceae

Common names: Buffalo currant, clove currant, golden currant.

Synonym: Ribes odoratum.

And The Plant List has R. aureum Pursh and R. odoratum H.L.Wendl. as synonyms.

No idea which sources are most reliable of those, as they all seem decent enough to me for things found on the internet. Honestly, taxonomists and botanists seem to reclassify things constantly, so maybe they're all outdated ... but since we're already down the rabbit hole, we may as well have some cake.