Wax currant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wax currant |
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| Ribes cereum var. cereum, from the Spring Mountains, southern Nevada | |
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Ribes
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| Species: |
cereum
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Ribes cereum var. colubrinum C.L.Hitchc. |
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Ribes cereum is a species of currant known by the common name wax currant (R. c. var. pedicellare is known as whisky currant). It is native to western North America, including British Columbia, Alberta, and much of the western United States, from Washington, Oregon, and California east as far as the western Dakotas and the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Ribes cereum grows in several types of habitat, including mountain forests in alpine climates, sagebrush, and woodlands. It can grow in many types of soils, including sandy soils and soil made of clay substrates, serpentine soils, and lava beds. This is a spreading or erect shrub growing 20 centimeters (8 inches) to 2 meters (80 inches) tall. It is aromatic, with a "spicy" scent. The stems are fuzzy and often very glandular, and lack spines and prickles. The leaves are somewhat rounded and divided into shallow lobes which are toothed along the edges. The leaves are hairless to quite hairy, and usually studded with visible resin glands, particularly around the edges. The inflorescence is a clustered raceme of 2 to 9 flowers. The small flower is tubular with the white to pink sepals curling open at the tips to form a corolla-like structure. Inside there are minute white or pinkish petals, five stamens, and a two protruding green styles. The fruit is a rather tasteless red berry up to a centimeter (0.4 inch) wide, with a characteristically long, dried flower remnant at the end.
Uses
The Zuni people use the berries of the pedicellare variety as food, and eat the leaves with uncooked mutton fat or deer fat. The berries are somewhat toxic and have an unpleasant flavor. The ripe fruits are sometimes good, and can be made into jam or pie fillings.
