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Wax Currant
Ribes cereum Dougl.
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Family: Grossulariaceae,
Currant
Genus: Ribes
Description
General: spreading or rounded to erect shrub, without
spines, 0.5-1.5 m tall, the new branches finely short-hairy
and often sparsely to copiously covered with short-stalked
glands, turning grayish-brown or reddish-brown.
 Leaves: alternate, mostly broadly fan-shaped, from quite
hairless to downy and often copiously stalked-glandular on
both surfaces, usually 1.5-2.5 cm broad and commonly
shallowly 3- or 5-lobed and closely blunt-toothed.
 Flowers: about 2-8 in clusters on short stalks, the entire
cluster usually both finely short-hairy and sticky with short-
stalked glands. Flower stalks shorter than the bracts. The
calyx greenish-white to pink-tinged, from nearly hairless to
short-hairy as well as stalked-glandular, nearly cylindric,
6-8 mm long, the 5 lobes spreading-bent back, 1.5-3 mm
long. The 5 petals 1-2 mm long, equaling to considerably
exceeding the 5 stamens. Anthers 0.7-1.5 mm long, oval,
tipped with a small cup-shaped gland. Styles sometimes
joined nearly or quite to the stigmas.
Flowering time: April-June.
 Fruits: berries, ovoid, 6-8 mm long, sparingly glandular,
dull to bright red, unpalatable.
Distribution
Woods, thickets, rocky areas, from sagebrush areas to
subalpine ridges, in most parts of MT. Also from B.C.
through OR and southward to s. CA, NE, CO, NM and AZ.
 Edible and Medicinal plant, see below.
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(click on image for full size)
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var. pedicellare:
(click on images for full size)
Edible Uses:
The berries of wax currant is edible raw or cooked. However, it is reportedly not very palatable to humans,
and large quantities have been known to cause nausea. Reports on the quality of the berries vary, and
range from insipid and rubbery to highly esteemed. The berries can also be used to make pemmican, jellies,
jams, sauces and pies. Berries can also be dried for later use. They were used for food by several indian
tribes. Young leaves are edible as well. The flowers of wax currant are edible raw and are said to have
a sweet flavor.
Medicinal Uses:
The plant was used medicinally by the Okanagan-Colville, Shoshoni and Thompson Indians. An infusion of
the inner bark was used as a wash for sore eyes. The fruit was sometimes eaten in quantity to induce vomiting.
It has also been used to treat diarrhea.
Varieties:
var. cereum Dougl.:
Bracts of the flowers usually more or less fan-shaped, broadly rounded and several-lobed or very prominently toothed. Leaves from hairless to copiously short-hairy and more or less glandular on both surfaces. From B.C. s. to AZ and s. CA, e. to c. MT and ID and w. NV, almost entirely replaced eastward by var. pedicellare with which it is freely intergradient.
var. pedicellare Brewer & S. Wats. (= var. inebrians):
Bracts ovate to obovate, usually pointed, entire to sharply small-toothed or with 2 or 3 shallow lobes. Plants, especially the leaves, mostly strongly short-hairy. Leaves mostly less than 15-20 mm broad. From c. ID to c. MT (Fergus Co.) and e. and s. (to the exclusion of var. cereum) to NE, NM, UT, and e. NV.
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