A small family, shrubs, with alternate, palmately-lobed leaves, often
sticky or resinous; the flowers almost always in clusters; the pedicels
with a bract at the base and usually with two bractlets halfway up;
petals five, or rarely four, usually smaller than the calyx-lobes;
stamens of the same number as the petals and alternate with them; ovary
inferior, with two styles, more or less united; fruit a berry, crowned
with the withered remains of the flower.
There are several kinds of Grossularia, or Gooseberry; shrubs,
sometimes with trailing branches, almost always spiny; flowers with
bracts; ovary often spiny.
[Sidenote: =Wild Gooseberry=
_Grossulària Roèzli (Ribes)_
=Maroon and white
Spring
California=]
This is a stout shrub, one to four feet high, with thick, short, rigid
little branches, the knobby joints more or less spiny. The roundish
leaves, less than an inch across, are lobed and scalloped, rather dull
green and slightly downy, and the flowers are about half an inch long,
with maroon-colored sepals and white petals, the base of the calyx-tube
downy. The purple berry is half an inch in diameter and covered with
stout prickles. This Gooseberry is common at moderate altitudes. The
drooping, red and white flowers resemble tiny Fuchsias, both in color
and form. _G. Menzièsii_, the Canyon Gooseberry, also has pretty
fuchsia-like flowers and grows in the Coast Ranges of California and
Oregon, blooming in the winter.
[Sidenote: =Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry=
_Grossulària speciòsa_
=Red
Spring
California=]
In spite of its name, the flowers of this handsome shrub do not look
as much like Fuchsias as the two last. The stems are armed with long
thorns and the leaves are thick, dark green, and glossy. The flowers
have four sepals, four petals, and four stamens and are about an inch
long and beautiful bright-red in color. The berry is dry and very
prickly. This is common in the southern part of California.
[Illustration: Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry--G. speciosa.