Hillside Gooseberry

Grossularia californica (H. & A.) Coville & Britton
Ribes califomicum H. & A. Bot. Beech. Voy. 346. 1838.
Ribes occideniale H. & A. Bot. Beech. Voy. 346. 1838.
Ribes oUgacanthum Eastw. Proc. Calif. Acad. III. Bot. 2 : 246. 1902.
Ribes occideniale califomicum Jancz. M^m. Soc. Geneve 35 : 368. 1907, A shrub 2 m. high or less, the slender young twigs without bristles ; nodal spines subulate, rather stout, 1-1.5 cm. long, or sometimes much shorter. Leaves suborbicular in outline, usually 5-lobed, sometimes 3-lobed, incisely crenate-dentate, thin, truncate or subcordate at the base, small, 1.5-3 cm. wide, glabrous or nearly so on both sides, deep-green above, paler and nearly or quite smooth beneath, the slender, sparingly glandularpubescent or glabrous petiole about as long as the blade, often ciliate at the base ; peduncles 1-3flowered, shorter than the leaves, somewhat pubescent and with a few stalked glands, or glabrous ; bracts ovate to orbicular, shorter than the pedicels ; ovary bristly, the shorter bristles sometimes glanduliferous ; hypanthium short, broad, cylindric, 2 mm. long or less ; sepals green or somewhat purplish, narrowly lanceolate, glabrous or occasionally puberulent, often with a tuft of hairs at the apex, about 6-8 mm. long ; petals obovate, erose, about 2 mm. long ; stamens equaling the sepals, the filaments more than twice as long as the petals ; anthers lanceolate, mucronulate, about 2 mm. long ; berry densely or sparingly prickly, commonly 8-12 mm. in diameter.
Type locality : California.
Distribution : Middle California.