A deciduous armed shrub 3 to 6 ft high; young shoots downy. Leaves 1⁄2 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 1⁄3 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, 1⁄4 in. long, the sepals 1⁄3 in. long; petals rosy white, erect, shorter than the sepals. Fruits purple, 1⁄2 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.