red currant

red currantnoun/ˈɹɛdˌkʌɹənt/

• 1

  A deciduous shrub, Ribes rubrum, native to western Europe; any of certain cultivars of the shrub.

  • And a hint of still waters, a stream, a brook, a rivulet, meandering with flashes of brilliance through the lush dense greenery, among shadowy plants that might have been blackberries or redcurrants, although what redcurrants and blackberries might be Yoel had not the faintest notion, and even the names themselves he only knew from books.
  • Cultivated redcurrants are most closely related to Ribes rubrum, which like blackcurrants grow in northern Europe and northern Asia, although several other species have had a hand in the development of particular varieties; whitecurrants, for their part, are simply redcurrants with albino genes. Despite their similarities, the histories of blackcurrants and redcurrants in Britain are surprisingly distinct.
• 2

  The bright red translucent edible berry of this plant.

  • 1995, Elizabeth Howard, Casting Off, Cazalet Chronicles, Book 4, 2006, unnumbered page, Her mouth was pale red and translucent, like the skin of a redcurrant.
  • She did not seem too happy to see us at first, but relaxed after she had shown us round their garden and we had tasted redcurrants and gooseberries.