Ribes oxyacanthoides : Wild Gooseberry

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Saxifragaceae (Saxifrage Family)

Genera: Ribes (Currants) (Arabic ribas=name of an unrelated rhubarb-like plant valued for its acid properties.)

Species: oxyacanthoides

English Name(s):

Wild Gooseberry, Northern Gooseberry

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Shrubs of medium size.
• Branches prostrate, ascending, or erect.
• With nodal spines and internodal bristles and is pubescent (with hairs).

Leaves:

• Palmate and cordate in shape. Venation also palmate usually with 5 main viens.
• Deeply 5 lobed.
• Underside glandular-puberlent (with hair-like glands).

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers perfect (bisexual).
• Ovary superior with 2 united carpels (female parts).
• Calyx (petals + sepals) tubed with petals alternating with the stamens (male parts).
• Flower parts 5-merous.
• Petals shorter than the coloured sepals.
• Racemes of 1-3 flowers.
• Calyx (sepals + petals) greenish-yellow in colour.

Seed:

• Fruit is a berry.
• Berries glabrous (smooth) and blueish-purple.

Not to Be Confused With:

• All Ribes (Currant) species look similar. Defining characteristics are: The colour of the berries red or black; Presence or not of bristles on stems or berries; Leaf lobes deep or shallow.
• R.lacustre is simmilar but it is densely bristly, and its racemes have 6-20 flowers that are pink in colour.

Physiology:

Life Cycle:

• Perennial.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Leaves deciduous (falling off).

Animal Uses:

• Bees are the main pollinators of all Ribes (Currant) species. They gather both nectar and pollen from these shrubs.
• Birds are the main agents of seed dispersal. Eating the fruit whole and passing the seeds through their system. Tests show that some Ribes (Currant) seeds germinate better after passing through certain bird species.

Habitat:

• Gravel banks, rocky slopes, and borders of woodlands

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