Wild gooseberry • Ribes divaricatum • Nuxalk - atl'anulh
Identification
Wild gooseberry is a 0.5-2 m tall perennial shrub. It grows upright or spreading, and has grey to brownish branches. The nodes where the leaves are attached are armed with 1-3 chestnut-brown spikes; the internodes sometimes bear bristles. The leaves are alternate, hairy, and 2-6 cm wide with toothed margins. They are somewhat heart-shaped and divided into three main lobes; the lower lobes are shallowly split into two, for a total of five lobes per leaf. The flowers are slender, drooping, and white to reddish in colour. The berries are smooth (not hairy or bristly) and dark purplish-black.
Habitat & Range
Wild gooseberry grows in moist thickets, meadows, forests, and open woodlands at low elevations. It mostly grows west of the Cascade Mountains. The Central Coast is at the northern extent of its range; it commonly grows from Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and the adjacent southern mainland, south to California.
Similar Species
Black gooseberry (Ribes lacustre) is the most similar gooseberry species found on the Central Coast. Its branches are covered in many small golden prickles, its reddish flowers are small and saucer-shaped, and its berries are bristly. Other similar BC Ribes species are gummy gooseberry (R. lobbii), red-flowering currant (R. sanguineum), sticky currant (R. viscossimum), and northern blackcurrant (R. inerme). These species differ in flower and berry structure as well as presence or absence of spines and prickles; they are also not commonly found north of southern BC.
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53448-Ribes-divaricatum
Wild gooseberry is a 0.5-2 m tall perennial shrub. It grows upright or spreading, and has grey to brownish branches. The nodes where the leaves are attached are armed with 1-3 chestnut-brown spikes; the internodes sometimes bear bristles. The leaves are alternate, hairy, and 2-6 cm wide with toothed margins. They are somewhat heart-shaped and divided into three main lobes; the lower lobes are shallowly split into two, for a total of five lobes per leaf. The flowers are slender, drooping, and white to reddish in colour. The berries are smooth (not hairy or bristly) and dark purplish-black.
Habitat & Range
Wild gooseberry grows in moist thickets, meadows, forests, and open woodlands at low elevations. It mostly grows west of the Cascade Mountains. The Central Coast is at the northern extent of its range; it commonly grows from Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and the adjacent southern mainland, south to California.
Similar Species
Black gooseberry (Ribes lacustre) is the most similar gooseberry species found on the Central Coast. Its branches are covered in many small golden prickles, its reddish flowers are small and saucer-shaped, and its berries are bristly. Other similar BC Ribes species are gummy gooseberry (R. lobbii), red-flowering currant (R. sanguineum), sticky currant (R. viscossimum), and northern blackcurrant (R. inerme). These species differ in flower and berry structure as well as presence or absence of spines and prickles; they are also not commonly found north of southern BC.
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53448-Ribes-divaricatum
References
Giblin, D. Ribes divaricatum. Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. University of Washington. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Accessed 26/08/2014.
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (1994). Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 85.
Ribes divaricatum Dougl. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed 26/08/2014.
Authors and editors of page
Kelly Fretwell and Brian Starzomski (2014).
Giblin, D. Ribes divaricatum. Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. University of Washington. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Accessed 26/08/2014.
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (1994). Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 85.
Ribes divaricatum Dougl. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed 26/08/2014.
Authors and editors of page
Kelly Fretwell and Brian Starzomski (2014).