Ribes lobbii on Gabriola
Can you believe that something this showy is a native plant? It’s true, and it’s blooming right now in the Gabriola forest. Careful, though: it has wicked thorns.
Its Latin name is Ribes lobbii. Its common names include gooey gooseberry, sticky gooseberry, pioneer gooseberry, and red-flowered gooseberry. When it gets to the fruiting stage, it should look something like the photo shown on the E-Flora Ribes Lobbii page.
Nancy J Turner’s Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples says that
The berries, though generally unpaletable, were eaten by the Kwakwaka’wakw and the Vancouver Island Coast Salish, but only in small quantities.
Another of her books, Plant Technology of First Peoples of British Columbia, says
Most aboriginal people do not distinguish among the different species of gooseberries, especially those with similar spine characteristics. The Saanich and Cowichan of Vancouver Island used gooseberry thorns as probes for opening boils, for removing slivers, and for tattooing. The Cowichan boiled the roots with Red-cedar roots and wild-rose roots and wove them together into rope, which they used to make reef nets.
This fascinates me.
We have a very talented tattoo artist on Gabriola but I bet she wouldn’t consider using gooseberry thorns.
Filed in Gabriola Island,native plants No Responses yet
