English: Ribes family.
Name: the Latin word grossulus means an unripe fig; Ribes is latinised from the semitic word ribas meaning acid taste.
Clades:
Saxifragales;
Saxifragidae;
Malvanae;
Angiospermae;
Plants.
Genera: Ribes; 150 species.
Region: Northern Hemisphere, extending into south America.
Medicinal: Blackfoot Indians use
Ribes hudsonianum, blackcurrant root, for kidney diseases, menstrual and menopausal problems; Cree Indians used the fruit of
Ribes glandulosum as a fertility enhancer to assist women in becoming pregnant.
Content: high in gamma-linolenic acid, GLA, an effective treatment for pre-menstrual syndrome.
Use: cultivated for their fruit; ornamentals
BotanyShrubs; usually deciduous.
TaxonomyGrossulariaceae is a
Family in
Saxifragales. In the Apg3 and Apg4 classifications
Grossulariaceae is included in
Saxifragales. Ribes includes the edible currants like blackcurrant, redcurrant, white currant, gooseberry, and several hybrid varieties; Grossularia, the gooseberry, is sometimes treated as a separate genus, usually as included in Ribes. This leads to the strange situation that Grossularia is not a genus in
Grossulariaceae.
Plant theoryIn the
Plant theory 2 Grossulariaceae is placed in
Subphase 6 of
Saxifragales.