Hillside Gooseberry :

California Gooseberry
Ribes californicum var. californicum
NATIVE – CA ENDEMIC

Description (Jepson, PlantID.net)

Eudicotyledon
- Eudicots are a major lineage of flowering plants; see family for general characteristics
Gooseberry Family (Grossulariaceae)
Deciduous shrub
3-4 leaves in a cluster; lobed with toothed margins
3 spines at nodes (junction of leaf and stem); sometimes entire stem is spiny
Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) a raceme (unbranched stem with stalked flowers opening from the bottom up) of 1-3 pendent flowers
- Sepals (usually green, outer flower parts) are showy, white to green with a rosy tinge, and upwardly-reflexed
- Petals are white or pink, fused, and in-rolled
- Stamens (male flower parts) and pistils (female flower parts) are exserted (extending beyond petals}
- Ovary inferior (below the attachment of other flower parts)
Fruit a berry (a usually multi-seeded fruit with a fleshy ovary wall) with bristles; red and translucent in maturity
Height to 4.6 ft.

Distribution

Native and endemic (limited) to California
- Grows in forest openings, woodlands, and chaparral
- See Calflora for statewide observations of this plant
Grows at elevations to 2,400 ft.

Uses (Picking or removing any natural material from public land is illegal)

Valuable food and habitat for wildlife; spines of the fruit do not prevent birds and mammals from eating the berries
Host plant for tailed copper butterfly caterpillar (Lycaena arota)

Name Derivation

Ribes (RIE-bees) – from the Arabic for a shrub with acidic fruit
Gooseberry – from possible corruption of a Dutch (kruisbezie), German (Krausbeere), or French (groseille) word

Notes

Sepals (usually green, outer flower parts) are the showy part of the flower
Flowers, leaves, and spines arise from the same node
Edgewood’s hillside gooseberry is classified as a variety
- Subspecies rank is used to recognize geographic distinctiveness, whereas variety rank is appropriate for variants seen throughout the geographic range of the species; in practice, these two ranks are not distinct

ID Tips

May be confused with chaparral currant (R. malvaceum)
- Hillside gooseberry, like all gooseberries, has spines on stems and berries
- Chaparral currant, like other currants, lacks spines
May be confused with canyon gooseberry (R. menziesii var. menziesii)
- Hillside gooseberry is common at Edgewood
  - Grows in sun or shade
  - Leaves are not hairy and usually not sticky (glandular)
  - Spines generally occur only at the nodes (junction of leaf and stem)
- Canyon gooseberry is uncommon at Edgewood
  - Grows in shade
  - Has sticky (glandular), hairy leaves
  - Has densely spiny stem

At Edgewood

Found in chaparral and woodlands
- See iNaturalist for observations of Ribes californicum
Flowers January – April

Specific References

Allen, T.J., et al. 2005. Caterpillars in the Field and Garden, Oxford University Press.