An armed deciduous shrub up to 9 ft high, the young shoots quite glabrous; spines solitary or in threes, about 1⁄2 in. long. Leaves between roundish and kidney-shaped, three- to five-lobed, 1 to 11⁄2 in. across, usually truncate at the base, the lobes unequally and bluntly toothed. Flowers two to four together in slender-stalked, drooping clusters. Receptacle glabrous, white; sepals ultimately much reflexed, leaving the stamens exposed for 1⁄3 in. Ovary glabrous, stamens and style downy. Fruits globose, glabrous, black with a purplish bloom, about 1⁄3 in. in diameter. Bot. Mag., t. 8849.
Native of western N. America; introduced in 1826. This gooseberry is rather pretty and distinct in its wholly white flowers, which open in April.
R. × robustum Jancz. – A hybrid between R. niveum and either R. oxyacanthoides or R. inerme (the latter not treated here). The plant at Kew made a vigorous bush and was received in 1890 from Mr Nyeland, gardener to the King of Denmark.