Ribes × beatonii Hort. ex Loud.

A hybrid between R. odoratum and R. sanguineum, raised in 1837 by Donald Beaton at Haffield, Herefordshire, who named it after his employer William Gordon, but it seems that the first validly published name commemorates its raiser. It is still widely grown as R. × gordonianum (JMG 2021, otherwise as per Bean). It was put into commerce by Low of Clapton. Beaton, one of the most learned plantsmen of his time, later became head gardener to Sir William Middleton, Bt, at Shrublands Park, Ipswich, where he bred some of the forerunners of the present-day bedding pelargoniums. He made several contributions to Loudon’s Gardeners’ Magazine, and corresponded with Dean Herbert, the authority on the Amaryllidaceae, who named after him the genus Beatonia, now reduced to the rank of a subgenus of Tigridia.

Beaton’s currant is intermediate in most respects between its parents – in habit, in the leaves being smaller and less hairy than those of R. sanguineum, and in the colour of the flowers, which are reddish outside, yellowish within, a curious blend. It is hardier than R. sanguineum, and can be grown in parts of the New England States where that species is too tender to thrive. It is interesting and not without beauty, but is inferior to both of its parents.