Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Gitxsan name: nisk'o'o
Wet'suwet'en name: dik dïnkay
Botanical Description
- unarmed, erect shrub, 0.5-2 metres tall, young growth is glandular and
hairy with shredding bark
- large, soft maple-shaped leaves, toothed with long glandular stalks,
finely fuzzy on both sides
- large, white flowers, several per cluster (flowers crinkle like tissue
paper)
- clusters of raspberrylike red, hairy drupelets, very juicy
- found in open forest, clearings, roadsides and streambanks
- low to subalpine elevations
Photo courtesy of Ruth Cooper (67kB)
Ethnobotanical Description
The berries were only eaten fresh or with other berries as they are too
juicy to dry or store in grease. The young shoots were peeled and eaten raw or cooked in
meat stews. The leaves were sometimes used as temporary containers, to line baskets,
separate berries in the same basket or as a surface to dry berries on.
This digital collection was produced under contract to the SchoolNet
Digital Collection Program, Industry Canada.
Revised: 08/21/98
