Ribes laxiflorum

Last updated

Contents

Ribes laxiflorum
Ribes laxiflorum RF.jpg
R. laxiflorum specimen from Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, British Columbia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Grossulariaceae
Genus: Ribes
Species:
R. laxiflorum
Binomial name
Ribes laxiflorum
Pursh 1813 [1]
Synonyms

Ribes affine Douglas ex Bong.
Ribes coloradense Coville [1]

Ribes altamiraniJancz.

Ribes laxiflorum is a species of currant known by the common names trailing black currant, and spreading currant. [1] It is native to western North America.

Description

Ribes laxiflorum is a spreading, trailing shrub usually growing .5–1 metre (1+123+12 feet) in height. It has been known to take a somewhat vine-like form in appropriate shady habitat with nearby supports, climbing to 7 m (23 ft) in length. [2] It has fuzzy, glandular stems lacking spines and prickles. The hairy, glandular, maple-shaped leaves are up to 10 centimetres (4 inches) long and deeply divided into several pointed lobes lined with dull teeth. The inflorescence is a mostly erect raceme of up to eight flowers. The distinctive flower has five greenish, purplish, or red sepals which are often curved back at the tips. At the center is a corolla of five red or pink petals each measuring 1 millimetre (132 in) long, narrow at the base and wider or club-shaped at the tip. Inside the corolla are five red stamens tipped with whitish anthers. The fruit is a purple-black berry measuring 4–14 mm (316916 in) wide which is waxy, hairy, or bristly in texture. [2]

Distribution and habitat

It is native to western North America from Alaska and Yukon south as far as northern California and New Mexico; [3] it has also been found in Siberia. Its habitat includes moist mountain forests, open clearings, streambanks, and the borders of mountain roads.

Uses

The berries are eaten locally (variously fresh, boiled, or as preserves) by Bella Coola, Haisla, Hanaksiala, Hesquiat, Kwakiutl, Lummi, Makah, Oweekeno, Skagit, and Tanana peoples. [4]

Other traditions use R. laxiflorum for an infusion to make an eyewash (roots and or branches, by the Bella Coolah). [4]

Decoctions of: bark to remedy tuberculosis (with the roots, by the Skokomish); or for the common cold (Skagit): leaves and twigs, as a general tonic (Lummi). [4]

Woody stems are fashioned into pipe stems (Hesquiat). [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ribes triste</i> Berry and plant

Ribes triste, known as the northern redcurrant, swamp redcurrant, or wild redcurrant, is an Asian and North American shrub in the gooseberry family. It is widespread across Canada and the northern United States, as well as in eastern Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redcurrant</span> Species of flowering plant in the gooseberry family Grossulariaceae

The redcurrant or red currant is a member of the genus Ribes in the gooseberry family. It is native to western Europe. The species is widely cultivated and has escaped into the wild in many regions.

<i>Ribes malvaceum</i> Species of shrub

Ribes malvaceum, the chaparral currant, is a member of the Grossulariaceae. It is native to California and northern Baja California, where it occurs from sea level to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), in chaparral, foothill oak woodland, and closed-cone pine forest habitats.

<i>Ribes aureum</i> Species of plant

Ribes aureum, known by the common names golden currant, clove currant, pruterberry and buffalo currant, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Ribes native to North America.

<i>Ribes speciosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Ribes speciosum is a species of flowering plant in the family Grossulariaceae, which includes the edible currants and gooseberries. It is a spiny deciduous shrub with spring-flowering, elongate red flowers that resemble fuchsias, though it is not closely related. Its common name is fuchsia-flowered gooseberry. It is native to central and southern California and Baja California, where it grows in the scrub and chaparral of the coastal mountain ranges.

Ribes amarum is a species of currant known by the common name bitter gooseberry. It is endemic to California, where it is known from mountains, foothills, and canyons. Its habitat includes Chaparral.

Ribes binominatum is a species of currant known by the common names trailing gooseberry and ground gooseberry.

<i>Ribes californicum</i> Species of flowering plant

Ribes californicum, with the common name hillside gooseberry, is a North American species of currant. It is endemic to California, where it can be found throughout many of the California Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges in local habitat types such as chaparral and woodlands.

<i>Ribes canthariforme</i> Species of currant

Ribes canthariforme is a rare species of currant commonly known as the Moreno currant. It is characterized by pink to red flowers, a dense inflorescence, and a lack of nodal spines. A little-known endemic to the mountains of San Diego County, it is usually found growing the shade of massive boulders in the chaparral. Although the rarity and small numbers of this plant is a conservation concern, it is usually found in remote areas and is well hidden enough to be safe from most threats.

<i>Ribes cereum</i> Species of currant

Ribes cereum is a species of currant known by the common names wax currant and squaw currant; the pedicellare variety is known as whisky currant. The species is native to western North America.

<i>Ribes indecorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Ribes indecorum is a species of currant known by the common names white-flowered currant and white chaparral currant. It is native to the southern California Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges, from around Santa Barbara County in California south into northern Baja California.

Ribes lasianthum is a species of currant known by the common names alpine gooseberry and woolly-flowered gooseberry. It is native to California, where it can be found in the San Gabriel Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, its distribution extending just into Nevada.

Ribes marshallii is a North American species of currant known by the common names Hupa gooseberry and Marshall's gooseberry. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California.

<i>Ribes montigenum</i> Berry and plant

Ribes montigenum is a species of currant known by the common names mountain gooseberry, alpine prickly currant, western prickly gooseberry, and gooseberry currant. It is native to western North America from Washington south to California and east as far as the Rocky Mountains, where it grows in high mountain habitat types in subalpine and alpine climates, such as forests and talus. It is a spreading shrub growing up to 1.5 meters tall, the branching stems covered in prickles and hairs and bearing 1 to 5 sharp spines at intervals.

<i>Ribes nevadense</i> Species of currant

Ribes nevadense is a species of currant known by the common names Sierra currant and mountain pink currant.

<i>Ribes quercetorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Ribes quercetorum is a species of currant known by the common names rock gooseberry, oak gooseberry and oakwoods gooseberry. It is native to the mountains and hills of California from the San Francisco Bay Area south into Baja California and east into Arizona.

<i>Ribes sericeum</i> Species of flowering plant

Ribes sericeum is a species of currant known by the common name Lucia gooseberry, or Santa Lucia gooseberry; its Latin epithet of sericeum means "of silk". It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the Santa Lucia Mountains along the Central Coast and an additional isolated population in Santa Barbara County.

Ribes victoris is an uncommon North American species of currant known by the common name Victor's gooseberry. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the chaparral and woods of canyons in the San Francisco Bay Area and counties to the north, as far as Humboldt County.

<i>Ribes viscosissimum</i> Species of currant

Ribes viscosissimum, also known as sticky currant, is a species of eudicot in the family Grossulariaceae. The species is native to North America. Pacific Northwest, Columbia Plateau, Great Plains, Great Basin, and southwest regions of western North America are native to this plant.

<i>Silene bernardina</i> Species of flowering plant

Silene bernardina is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Palmer's catchfly.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Flora Americae Septentrionalis; or, a Systematic Arrangement and Description of the Plants of North America 2:731. 1813–1814 "Ribes laxiflorum". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Flora of North America, Ribes laxiflorum Pursh, 1813. Trailing black or spreading currant
  3. Biota of North America Program 2014 state-level distribution map
  4. 1 2 3 4 Dan Moerman. "Search for Ribes laxiflorum". Native American Ethnobotany Database. Dearborn, Michigan: University of Michigan . Retrieved July 20, 2010.