Sierra gooseberry Grossulariaceae Ribes
|Leaf: Alternate, simple, deciduous, palmately lobed (3 to 5 lobes), round in outline, 1 inch in diameter; hairless or hairy, lacking sticky glands.
Flower: Species is monoecious, small, pendulous, red to purple sepals with 5 white petals, occur singly or in clusters of 2-3, spectacularly showy.
Fruit: Dark purple, 1/2 inch red to purple berries covered with sharp spines and gland-tipped bristles, edible.
Twig: Heavily armed at nodes with tri-parted spines, no prickles between the nodes, twig and spines distinctly red when young.
Bark: Gray-brown, lenticellate, splitting.
Form: Spiny deciduous shrub 2-5’ tall, erect in sun or trailing in shade, grows alone or in thickets.
| Additional Range Information:
Ribes roezlii is native to North America.
Range may be expanded by planting.
See states reporting Sierra gooseberry.
| External Links:
USDA Plants Database
|© Copyright 2016, Virginia Tech|
Dept. of Forest Resources
and Environmental Conservation,
all rights reserved.
Photos and text by: John Seiler,
Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera,
and John Peterson