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Ribes menziesii Pursh

Modern name

Ribes menziesii Pursh

A deciduous spiny shrub up to 6 ft high; young shoots downy and covered with long, slender bristles. Leaves roundish ovate in the main, 1 to 2 in. wide, deeply three- sometimes five-lobed, the lobes toothed, either glabrous or with gland-tipped hairs above, very downy and glandular beneath and on the stalk. Flowers in pairs or solitary on the slender, glandular, and downy stalk. Receptacle red-purple with a short, bell-shaped base, the sepals 13 in. long; petals white, sometimes rosy tinted. Fruits globose, covered with glandular bristles, the remains of the flower persisting at the top.

Native of western N. America from central California to Oregon; introduced in 1830. A vigorous gooseberry, which flowers freely in this country in May. From R. lobbii, with which it is much confused in gardens, it is distinguished by its bristly stems, the stalked glands on the ovary, and the tapered anthers. The contrast of purple and white in the flowers is pretty.


Genus

Ribes

Other species in the genus