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
  • Not sticky (nonglandular)
• 3 spines (sharp-pointed modified leaves) at nodes (junction of leaf and stem)
  • Sometimes with bristles (short, stiff hairs)
• 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}
  • Sepals, petals, and stamens (male flower parts) fused at base into a cup-like structure (hypanthium)
  • 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 (San Mateo County Parks prohibits removal of any natural material)

• Wildlife
  • Bristles on the fruit do not prevent birds and mammals from eating the berries
    • Bristles soften as fruit ripens
  • Larval food source (host) for tailed copper butterfly caterpillar (Lycaena arota)
• Native People (for Ribes species) (Anderson 2005)
  • Berries were gathered and eaten whole or mashed
    • Bristles could be singed off by tossing in a basket with hot coals
  • Young shoots were used for making arrows
  • Bushes were actively managed by pruning and burning, stimulating many positive effects
    • Vigorous and straighter shoots
    • Larger and more numerous fruits
    • Less congested canopies
    • Reduced insect infestations
    • Recycled nutrients

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
• Spines on stems help deter herbivory
  • Spines are sharp-pointed modified leaves, as on cacti and at Edgewood on gooseberries, or leaf parts, as on leather oaks
  • Prickles grow from the outer layers (epidermis) of plant stems, as on roses and blackberries
  • True thorns are sharp-pointed modified stems, as grow on citrus trees and at Edgewood on chaparral pea (Pickeringia montana var. montana)
• Edgewood’s hillside gooseberry is classified as a variety
  • Variety indicates a population with small morphological variations, e.g. color, seen throughout the geographic range of the species; interbreeding is possible
  • Subspecies indicates a geographically-separated population with distinct morphological characteristics; when not isolated, interbreeding is possible
  • In practice, botanists have not consistently applied these ranks

ID Tips

• May be confused with three other Ribes species at Edgewood, though only hillside gooseberry is seen commonly along trails
  • Canyon gooseberry (R. menziesii var. menziesii)
    • Observable only down the Sylvan spur trail
  • Chaparral currant (R. malvaceum)
    • Observable only in the Native Garden
  • Pink-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum)
    • Observable at the outer parking area along Cordilleras Creek
    • This species was planted as part of a restoration effort and does not grow natively in Edgewood

	Hillside Gooseberry	Canyon Gooseberry	Chaparral Currant	Pink-flowering Currant
Height	＜5ft.	＜10ft.	＜7ft.	＜13ft.
Stems	spines … sometimes bristles¹	spines … usually bristles¹	no spines … no bristles¹	no spines … no bristles¹
Leaves	not hairy … not glandular (sticky)	hairy … glandular (sticky)	hairy … glandular (sticky)	hairy … not glandular (sticky)
Inflorescence	1-3 flowers	1-3 flowers	10-25 flowers	10-20 flowers
Sepals	green or pink-tinged	purple	pink to purple	red
Fruit	red, translucent … bristles	red … dense bristles	blue-black, glaucus² … hairs	purple, glaucus² … hairs
Seen at Edgewood	common	on Sylvan spur trail	native garden	outer parking area, along Cordilleras Creek

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.

Anderson, M.K. 2005. Tending the Wild. University of California, Berkeley. Pp. 234-35; 274-80.

General References

Calflora Database. 2014. Berkeley, California.

Calscape. 2018. California Native Plant Society.

Charters, M.L. 2015. Latin and Greek Plant Names: Meaning and Derivations.

Charters, M.L. 2017. Southern California Wildflowers: Guide to the Pronunciation of Specific, Generic and Family Names.

Corelli, T. 2004. Flowering Plants of Edgewood Natural Preserve (2nd. ed.). Monocot Press, Half Moon Bay, California.

Dave’s Garden.

Elpel, T.J. 2013. Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. HOPS Press, Pony, Montana.

Flora of North America. efloras.org.

Harris, J.G. and M.W. Harris. 2013. Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, Utah.

Keator, G. 2009. California Plant Families. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.

Native American Ethnobotany DB.

Regents of the University of California. Jepson eFlora. Jepson Herbarium. University of California, Berkeley.