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.

Blue berry

Vaccinium uliginosum
Ericceae - Heath family

Along Moose-skull lake, North of Mendenhall subdivision
July 31 2009



Fire Tower Mountain, right above the tree-line, July 27 2009

The berry at least 1cm long.
Hmmmm i still think that there is more than one species of blueberries around here, this one just above the tree line.
This one in the photo definitely a crawling plant, very close to the ground.
According to the books the same species.


Vaccinium - It's Latin name
uliginosum - of wet or marshy areas

Strawberry

here, july 1 2009


Fragaria virginiana ssp glauca
Rosaceae, Rose family

photo taken at stony Creek on July 1
But the strawberries grow everywhere! Just the fruit best at Stony.

Fragaria? fragile or fragrance, maybe both?
virginiana - hmmm... you know i didn't study Latin or anything,
so does this mean from Virginia(State) or referring to virgin as in... pure?
glauca - sea green

Apparently, our only wild strawberry in the Yukon has leaves more blue-green than other species.

Rubus arcticus ssp acaulis

'moose skull lake' Mendenhall. YukonJune 20 2008

Rubus arcticus ssp acaulis
Rosaceae Rose family
In one source i find its common name is Nagoon berry.

I don't have a photo from the berry yet, it's a raspberry and tasty it is.

Rubus - raspberry - red
arcticus - northern
acaulis - no stem

Well, it does have a stem, but the flower doesn't overtop the leaves.

Red-osier Dogwood

 formerly Cornus stolonifera
now Cornus sericea sub sericea
Dogwood family
-
- Not Edible-
-
Sept. 07 2008
One shrub, where the bushroad crosses 'elfin creek'. (North of Mendenhall subd.)
2017- almost 10 years later, there are many bushes now, all derived from that one, they are following the creek downstream.
-
Cornus means horn.
an osier-bed is a river-bed.
stolonifera - carrying 'suckers'.

and the berries still green on July 20, 2015

I wonder how early they bloom?

April 18, 2016

and below June 29, 2016 same location

Cranberry

Vaccinium vitis-idaea ssp minus

Heath family

-

Sept 8 2008

In the Pine forest along the Kusuwa road.

-

vitis-idaea means vine of mnt. Ida

Here on sept 5, 2015 along the Kusawa road,  ripe berries, with flowers behind it, this summer flowering for a second time. Normally only flowering in spring.

And on June 12, 2016, i found some plants with possibly a fungus

maybe Exobasidium vaccinii

winter mountain ( Ibex Valley)

and that same day on the same mountain

cranberry flowers