Mountain Gooseberry Ribes montigenum Currant family (Grossulariaceae)
Mountain Gooseberry is one of our most common Ribes species and probably the most prolific and reliable producer. It has flesh-colored stems for the most recent year or two of growth, three large at leaf , and sometimes has smaller along the stem. Leaves are handsome and are densely hairy, somewhat sticky, , and cleft very deeply in three divisions. Hundreds of delicate, pink-to-coral flared bells cloak the plant in late spring and early summer. and are also covered in minute, , sticky hairs. Ribes montigenum commonly surrounds the base of older Engelmann Spruce. "Montigenum" is from the Latin for "mountain born." Ribes montigenum was first collected in 1893 in the California Sierras by McClatchie.
Intricately branched shrub from 2-4' tall and much wider. Stems thorny, with at and stiff, shorter, bristly on stems and branches. Older branches less spiny. Leaves in outline with about 5 usually deep , the divisions and , usually densely and hairy. hairy. Flowers green-white to more commonly salmon to rose-purple. 4-8 flowered. short, small. tube rather broad. Petals usually about 1/2 as long as the . about 1/4 to 2/5" in diameter, red, covered with -tipped soft . Quite edible.
node -- The point at which there is attached growth, as in the place where
each leaf is attached.
lobe -- Being divided by clefts.
Cut deeply and (usually) unevenly (a condition intermediate between toothed and lobed).
pedicel -- The stem of a single flower.
spine -- a stiff, sharp structure formed by the modification of a plant organ that contains vascular tissue. A spine can be formed by a latteral branch, a modified leaf or a thorn.
thorn -- a sharp, still point, usually a modified stem, that cannot be detached without tearing the subtending tissue. A spine.
orbicular -- Circular or nearly circular in outline.
Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.
Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.
Glands are plant structures that secrete liquids, salts or other substances.
Glands often appear as hairs with a drop of liquid at the end.
calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses
the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
The botanical term "berry" is different from common usage. Strawberries and raspberries are not berries.
But a tomatoe is. A true berry is a fruit with the seeds immersed in the pulp.
bristle -- A straight, stiff hair.
lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).
petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.
A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers
having short floral stalks along its axis.
