Ribes hudsonianum grows in moist wooded areas, such as mountain streambanks and in swamp thickets.

[5] The stems are covered in shiny, yellow resin glands that lack spines or prickles.

The leaves are 2.5–12.5 centimetres (1–5 in) long, divided into five sharp-toothed lobes, the lower two smaller.

Fruits are bitter-tasting, black berries, about 1 cm (3⁄8 in) wide with a waxy surface, speckled with yellow glands.

[4] Hudson Bay currants are found in every province in Canada from Quebec westward, and in parts of the United States (Alaska, the Great Lakes region, the northern Rockies, Cascades, Blue Mountains, and other parts of the Northwest).