Northern Black Currant

Ribes hudsonianum
Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family
June 14 2013
Elfin Creek

June 16, 2014 i found a good patch of Ribes hudsonianum at Stony Creek
Black Currants

being alerted by the fragrance of their leaves when i walked through a patch.

elfin creek, May 30 2017

close to our property, May 30, 2017

 When not in fruit or blooming, Ribes hudsonianum is being distinguished from R. triste and R. glandulosum (this one i do not know it does grow elsewhere in the Yukon)

by the glands (2) on the underside of the leaves and the wooly veins (1)

Northern Gooseberry

May 26 almost blooming

blooming June2 2013

Ribes oxyacathoides  var. oxyacanthoides

Ribes Triste

Northern Red-current

trailing black currant

Yet another black currant
It took me forever to positively identify this one,
but now i see it, it is kind of obvious.


Ribes laxiflorum
formerly saxifragaceae saxifrage family
now Grossulariaceae, bittersweet family


Sept 7 2009 Rainy Hollow (BC)

laxus - loose, distant

It looks like this bush has dropped most of its berries, or have they been eaten?
Very unlikely by people, i find that this berry is yet harder to get to than the blueberries in Rainy Hollow. And not that abundant.
I find the taste superior to that of the black currants around my house, which are R. hudsonianum and R. lacustre.

Northern Gooseberry

Ribes oxyacanthoides ssp oxyacanthhoides
My own yard, wild. photo taken July 2008.

formerly Saxifragaceae Saxifrage family
now Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family

oxyacanthoides - sharp/ sour
well the berries not so sour as most of its cousins here, but the thorns most sharp and abundant. hard to pick berry! But the taste very good.

black currant jam

Only part of the bounty today, Aug. 1 2009.
Mostly black currants. (see Ribes) a few strawberries (Fragaria) and some raspberries (Rubus) and very few gooseberries (Ribes)


Yesterday Pat and i picked, some 5 litres raspberries and say 4 litres blackcurrants.
He made raspberry vinegar. According to him only to be done with wild berries, (domestic berries not enough flavor)
He used 3 litres white vinegar
I think; 1 pound raspberries (i'll ask him)
boiled it, let i stand, and strained it.
Beautiful clear red liquid.

Angela(Pat's wife) i hope you will send me the recipe for the salad dressing, made with it.(Thanks:)

I cooked up my 2 litres of blackcurrants, as you see them, leaves and sticks picked out.

I dry the leaves for tea.

I boiled the berries with one bag of brown sugar, boiled till the desired consistency,
4 pints of jam.

As you see i am not much good for recipes. I fling it, it mostly works out deliciously so.

Ribes hudsonianum

Ribes hudsonianum

Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family

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August 12 2008, on the power line east of Mendenhall subdivision.

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A wonderful berry to pick, no thorns and picks fast and clean somehow.

You have to like the taste though, it is strong. It makes a very good jam, for some a favorite.

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I find it in open places in moist, dark woods. I do not come upon it very often though. Again it seems to like it where a right away of some kind is being cut through the woods.

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Ribes: Persian word meaning acid-tasting

hudsonianum, I imagine it grows along the Hudson Bay.

bristly black currant

the flowering one June 7 2017

Ribes lacustre
Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family

ribes - acid tasting
lacustre- growing along ponds and lakes

The berry is very sticky and not my favorite to pick, but of its abundance and guaranteed good crop, it is a welcome addition to my harvest. It is to me not very tasty raw, But delicious as a juice. I made juice one year when the berries were covered with Fireweed fluff. Most years I make jam, which I mix with Black Currants and/or Raspberries and this year even Strawberries, which all grow in the Black Currant patch I pick.

On August 10 and 11 2008, we picked 4 litres of the above mix. Made delicious jam, using less then half white sugar, boiling it for at the most 10 min.

I call this a Gooseberry, i find it along roads and power lines. Semi-wet and semi-shaded.

At the end of August I made jam with just those berries. And it turned out very good, resembling black currant jam.