Ribes altissimum

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

The purplish-black fruit, about 7mm in diameter, can be eaten raw or cooked. It has a small size and thick skin, but offers a pleasant acid taste and is abundantly produced in the wild.

Where to Find It

It is a cool temperate plant. In Kazakhstan it grows on coarse stone hillocks in the forest belt of the Altai mountain ranges. Plants are very winter hardy.

Asia, Central Asia, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Siberia,

How to Identify

A shrub. It grows 2-3 m high. The bark is reddish brown and splits then shreds into long strips. The leaves have 3 lobes and has a heart shaped base. They are 3-6 cm long. They are dark green on the upper side and light green underneath. There are 7-26 bell-shaped flowers in groups 3-6 cm long. The fruit are black-purple berries. They are 5-7 mm across.

How to Grow

Easily grown in a moisture retentive but well-drained loamy soil of at least moderate quality. Does well in shade though does not fruit so well in such a position. Hardy to about -20°c. Plants can harbour a stage of white pine blister rust, so should not be grown in the vicinity of pine trees. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus. This plant is possibly useful as part of a breeding programme for red currants.

Propagation: Seed is best sown as soon as it is ripe in autumn in a cold frame. Stored seed requires 3 months of cold stratification at 0–9°c and should be sown as early in the year as possible. Under normal storage conditions seed can remain viable for 17 years or more. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle and grow on in a cold frame for their first winter, planting out in late spring the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood can be taken in July/August in a frame. Cuttings of mature wood of the current year's growth, preferably with a heel of the previous year's growth, can be taken November to February in a cold frame or sheltered bed outdoors.

Medicinal Uses

None known.

Other Uses

None known.

Deciduous shrub reaching 3 m tall. Hermaphrodite flowers appear in May with seeds ripening July to August. Grows in light, medium, or heavy soils with good drainage; tolerates mildly acid to basic pH. Adapts to semi-shade or full sun and prefers consistently moist conditions. Hardy to UK zone 6.

Notes

There are about 150 Ribes species.

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