A deciduous spiny shrub 3 to 6 ft high, with slightly downy, occasionally glandular-bristly young branches; spines usually slender, solitary, up to 1⁄2 in. long. Leaves roundish or somewhat kidney-shaped, 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 in. wide, deeply three- or five-lobed, toothed, the base mostly truncate; stalk as long as the blade, downy at the base. Flowers white tinged with pink, one to three on a short stalk; receptacle cylindrical, the sepals downy, ultimately reflexed. Fruits oval, shining, blackish red, slightly downy or glabrous.
Native of Colorado, New Mexico, etc.; one of the prettiest and daintiest of gooseberries, the branches being slender and densely clothed with tiny leaves. Introduced in 1893.
R. quercetorum Greene R. leptanthum var. quercetorum (Greene) Jancz. – This has pale yellow flowers, fragrant, and produced two to four together. Native of California.