Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Ribes petraeum

(Ribes petraeum)

galery
en

Description

Ribes is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible fruit or as ornamental plants. Ribes is the only genus in the family Grossulariaceae. Ribes species are medium shrublike plants with marked diversity in strikingly diverse flowers and fruit. They have either palmately lobed or compound leaves, and some have thorns. The sepals of the flowers are larger than the petals, and fuse into a tube or saucer shape. The ovary is inferior, maturing into a berry with many seeds. Ribes is the single genus in the Saxifragales family Grossulariaceae. Although once included in the broader circumscription of Saxifragaceae sensu lato, it is now positioned as a sister group to Saxifragaceae sensu stricto. Ribes is widely distributed through the Northern Hemisphere, and also extending south in the mountainous areas of South America. Species can be found in meadows or near streams. The genus Ribes includes the edible currants: blackcurrant, redcurrant and white currant, as well as the European gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa and several hybrid varieties. It should not be confused with the dried currants used in cakes and puddings, which are from the Zante currant, a small-fruited cultivar of the grape Vitis vinifera. Ribes gives its name to the popular blackcurrant cordial Ribena. The genus also includes the group of ornamental plants collectively known as the flowering currants, for instance R. sanguineum. Blackfoot people used blackcurrant root (Ribes hudsonianum) for the treatment of kidney diseases and menstrual and menopausal problems. The Cree used the fruit of Ribes glandulosum as a fertility enhancer to assist women in becoming pregnant. European immigrants who settled in North America in the 18th-century typically made wine from both red and white currants. Currants are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (see List of Lepidoptera that feed on currants).

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Saxifragales
Family:Grossulariaceae
Genus:Ribes
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