About Ribes viburnifolium A.Gray
Ribes viburnifolium A.Gray is a low-growing perennial shrub that produces long reddish stems that extend horizontally along the ground. Its leaf upper surfaces are dark green and shiny, while leaf undersides are lighter green or yellowish, leathery, and dotted with glands that exude a sticky, citrus-scented sap. Clusters of deep red flowers bloom from late winter into early spring, and the plant produces small red fruits later that spring. The red fruits attract birds, and the flowers attract hummingbirds and insects.
This species is native to the coast of Baja California and Southern California, ranging from Smuggler's Canyon in the Tijuana Hills of San Diego County south to El Rosario in central Baja California. Its probable type locality, from a 1882 collection by Marcus E. Jones, is near Ensenada. It is also found on several regional islands, including Catalina Island and Todos Santos Island in the Southern California Bight, and Cedros Island located further south off the Vizcaino Peninsula. One persistent planted population grows in San Clemente Canyon, San Diego County.
On the mainland, this species occurs in coastal sage scrub and coastal succulent scrub along the southern San Diego and northern Baja California coast, growing in partially shaded canyons and arroyos near the coast. On Punta Banda, it grows in moist, wind-swept, foggy sage scrub and chaparral. On Cedros Island, it occurs in pine groves north of Gran Cañón. Under the common name evergreen currant, it is a popular plant for drought-tolerant gardens.
