Ribes roezlii Reg.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Ribes roezlii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ribes/ribes-roezlii/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Synonyms

  • R. amictum Greene

Glossary

receptacle
Enlarged end of a flower stalk that bears floral parts; (in some Podocarpaceae) fleshy structure bearing a seed formed by fusion of lowermost seed scales and peduncle.
bract
Reduced leaf often subtending flower or inflorescence.
glandular
Bearing glands.
pendent
Hanging.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Ribes roezlii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ribes/ribes-roezlii/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A deciduous armed shrub 3 to 6 ft high; young shoots downy. Leaves 12 to 1 in. wide, roundish or kidney-shaped in general outline, three- or five-lobed, the lobes with often sharp teeth, more or less downy on both surfaces, especially beneath; stalk 13 in. long, usually downy and sometimes glandular-hairy. Flowers solitary or in pairs on a short downy, often glandular stalk, pendent. Receptacle purplish crimson, downy, cylindrical, 14 in. long, the sepals 13 in. long; petals rosy white, erect, shorter than the sepals. Fruits purple, 12 in. wide, covered with slender bristles.

Native of California. This pretty and curious gooseberry is not common in cultivation; the plant that was distributed for it from nurseries was as a rule either R. lobbii or R. menziesii. Its nearest ally is R. cruentum (q.v.). Greene’s epithet amictum refers to the shape of the bract surrounding the base of each flower, which resembles the amice, or hood, worn by Roman Catholic clergy at mass.


var. cruentum (Greene) Rehder

Synonyms
Ribes cruentum Greene

Described by Bean as Ribes cruentum

A deciduous spiny shrub 3 to 6 ft high, more in diameter; young shoots minutely downy. Leaves roundish, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, three- or five-lobed, the lobes coarsely round-toothed, nearly or quite glabrous on both surfaces, stalk minutely downy, slender, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers 3⁄4 in. wide, solitary, rarely in pairs, on a slender stalk 1⁄3 in. long, pendent. Receptacle 1⁄2 in. long, crimson, the tube narrowly bell-shaped, glabrous, the five sepals lanceolate, finally reflexed. Petals white, much shorter than the sepals; ovary covered with incipient spines. Fruits red, 2⁄3 in. across, with a hedgehog-like appearance due to their covering of numerous spines, each 1⁄6 to 1⁄4 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 8105.

Native of California and S. Oregon; introduced in 1899. This interesting and remarkable gooseberry has flowers extremely pretty in their contrast of crimson and white, but they are not particularly abundant, usually one at each joint of the previous year’s wood. The berries are remarkable in their prickliness. It is closely allied to, and perhaps only a variety of R. roezlii [as treated here, 2023], but that species is distinctly downy on leaf and receptacle. Effective grown as a standard.