About
Ribes californicum, the hillside gooseberry, is a spiny gooseberry endemic to California, with hanging red-and-white flowers and edible red berries covered in stiff spines.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Mature size
- Up to about 1.4 m (4.5 ft) tall.
Field notes
Morphology
A mostly erect shrub up to about 1.4 m tall, with three spines to 1.5 cm at each node. Small leaves 1–3 cm long have 3–5 toothed lobes. One to three flowers hang from the branches, with reflexed deep red or reddish-green sepals around a white or pinkish tube. The red berry is about 1 cm wide and spiny.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to California, in the Coast, Transverse and Peninsular Ranges, in chaparral and woodland.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Crossed R. californicum with another species?Register the cross. If it's not documented yet you'll be the first contributor; if someone already registered it, you'll be taken there to add your photo.