Ribes triste
{{Short description|Berry and plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Bottomdollar99730 - Northern Red Currant.jpg
| image2 = Ribes triste 6 (5098098380).jpg
| genus = Ribes
| species = triste
| authority = Pall. 1797 not Turcz. 1837
| synonyms_ref = {{ThePlantList |id=tro-29100053 |taxon=Ribes triste}}
| synonyms =
- Coreosma tristis (Pall.) Lunell
- Ribes albinervium Michx.
- Ribes ciliosum Howell
- Ribes melancholicum Siev. ex Pall.
- Ribes propinquum Turcz.
- Ribes rubrum var. propinquum Trautv. & C.A. Mey.
- Ribes repens A.I. Baranov
}}
Ribes triste, known as the northern redcurrant,{{FEIS |genus=Ribes |species=triste |type=shrub |last=Ulev |first=Elena D. |date=2006}} swamp redcurrant, or wild redcurrant,{{cite web |url=http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/ph_spp_intro.pl?speciesid=1004269%20planthardiness.gc.ca |publisher=Natural Resources Canada |website=Canada's Plant Hardiness Site |title=Ribes triste Pall., swamp red currant, wild red currant}} is an Asian and North American shrub in the gooseberry family.
Description
It grows to {{convert|50|cm}} tall, with a lax, often creeping branches. The leaves are alternate, {{convert|6–10|cm|abbr=on|frac=4}} across, hairy below, and palmate with 3–5 lobes.{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLbAAwAAQBAJ |title=Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest |last2=Kuhlmann |first2=Ellen |date=2014 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=978-1-60469-263-1 |edition=1st |location=Portland, OR |pages=211}}
From June to July, 6–13 small, purplish flowers are displayed in pendulous racemes, {{cvt|4|–|7|cm|in|frac=4}} long. The axis of the raceme is glandular. The fruit is a bright red berry, without the hairs that some currants have; it is rather sour.{{eFloras|1|200010196|Ribes triste |family=Grossulariaceae |first=Nancy R. |last=Morin}}
Distribution and habitat
Ribes triste is widespread across Canada and the northern United States, as well as in eastern Asia (Russia, China, Korea, Japan).{{BONAP|genus=Ribes|species=triste|state=1|date=2014}}{{eFloras|2|200010196|Ribes triste|family=Saxifragaceae|last1=Lu|first1=Lingdi|first2=Crinan|last2=Alexander}} It grows in wet rocky woods, swamps, and cliffs.
As a weed
Conservation
It is listed as endangered in Connecticut{{cite web |url=https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Endangered-Species/Endangered-Species-Listings/Endangered-Threatened--Special-Concern-Plants |title=Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Plants |publisher=State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources |access-date=28 December 2021}} (Note: This list is newer than the one used by plants.usda.gov and is more up-to-date.) and Ohio, and as threatened in Pennsylvania.{{PLANTS |symbol=RITR |taxon=Ribes triste |access-date=24 January 2018 }}
Uses
=Culinary=
The berries are edible. Alaska Natives eat them raw and make them into jam and jellies.{{cite book |last=Heller |first=Christine A. |date=1953 |title=Edible and Poisonous Plants of Alaska |publisher=University of Alaska |page=87}} Eskimos eat the berries{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=J. P. |date=1939 |title=Plants Used by the Eskimo of the Northern Bering Sea and Arctic Regions of Alaska |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=26 |issue=9 |page=715 |doi=10.1002/j.1537-2197.1939.tb09343.x }} and the Inupiat eat them raw or cooked, mix them with other berries which are used to make a traditional dessert. They also mix the berries with rosehips and highbush cranberries and boil them into a syrup.{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Anore |date=1983 |title=Nauriat Niginaqtuat = Plants That We Eat |place=Kotzebue, Alaska |publisher=Maniilaq Association Traditional Nutrition Program |page=105}} The Iroquois mash the fruit, make them into small cakes, and store them for future use. They later soak the fruit cakes in warm water and cooked them a sauce or mixed them with corn bread. They also sun dry or fire dry the raw or cooked fruit for future use and take the dried fruit with them as a hunting food.{{cite book |last=Waugh |first=F. W. |date=1916 |title=Iroquis Foods and Food Preparation |place=Ottawa |publisher=Canada Department of Mines |page=128}} The Ojibwe eat the berries raw, and also preserve them by cooking them, spreading them on birch bark into little cakes, which are dried and stored for winter use.{{sfn|Densmore|1928|page=321}} In the winter, they often eat the berries with cooked sweet corn. They also use the berries to make jams and preserves.{{sfn|Smith|1932|p=410}} The Upper Tanana eat the berries as food.{{sfn|Kari|1985|p=11}}
=Medicinal=
The Ojibwe take a decoction of the root and stalk for kidney stones ('gravel'){{sfn|Densmore|1928|p=348}} and a compound decoction of the stalk to curtail menstruation;{{sfn|Densmore|1928|p=358}} the leaves are used as a 'female remedy'.{{sfn|Smith|1932|p=389}} The Upper Tanana use a decoction of the stems without the bark as a wash for sore eyes.{{sfn|Kari|1985|p=11}}
References
{{commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite journal |last=Densmore |first=Frances |date=1928 |title=Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians |journal=SI-BAE Annual Report |volume=44 }}
- {{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Huron H. |date=1932 |title=Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians |journal=Bulletin of the Public Museum of Milwaukee |volume=4 }}
- {{cite book |last=Kari |first=Priscilla Russe |date=1985 |title=Upper Tanana Ethnobotany |place=Anchorage |publisher=Alaska Historical Commission}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2078310}}
Category:Flora of Northern America
Category:Flora of Eastern Asia
Category:Flora of the Russian Far East
Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine