Gooseberry
The
gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa (syn. R. grossularia) is a species of Ribes, native
to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia. It is one of several
similar species in the subgenus Grossularia; for the other related species (e.g.
North American Gooseberry Ribes hirtellum), see the genus page Ribes.
Although usually placed as a subgenus within Ribes, a few taxonomists treat
Grossularia as a separate genus, although hybrids between gooseberry and
blackcurrant (e.g. the Jostaberry) are possible. The subgenus Grossularia
differs somewhat from currants, chiefly in their spiny stems, and in that their
flowers grow one to three together on short stems, not in racemes.
The gooseberry is a straggling bush growing to 1-3 m tall, the branches being
thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two
or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots, on which the
bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of
rounded, deeply-crenated 3 or 5 lobed leaves. The fruit is smaller than in the
garden kinds, but is often of good flavour; it is generally hairy, but in one
variety smooth, constituting the R. uva-crispa of writers; the colour is usually
green, but plants are occasionally met with having deep purple berries.