A deciduous shrub 3 to 5 ft high, the stems thickly covered with slender prickles or stiff bristles; spines at the joints numerous, from three to nine arranged in a semicircle. Leaves 1 to 21⁄4 in. long and wide, handsomely and deeply three- or five-lobed, the lobes often again deeply cut; stalk and chief veins more or less bristly. Flowers from twelve to twenty in glandular-downy drooping racemes, 2 to 3 in. long, funnel-shaped, with short, spreading sepals brownish crimson inside, creamy white or pinkish outside. Fruits round, about the size of a black currant, covered with gland-tipped bristles, black.
Native of N. America on both sides of the continent, inhabiting cold damp localities; introduced in 1812. Although the general aspect of this shrub is that of a gooseberry, especially in the shape of its leaves and in its spines, it has the long racemes and flowers of the currants. Its multiple spines are also distinct. Although it has no lively colour to recommend it, it is pretty when its branches are strung with the graceful drooping racemes.
R. montigenum McClatchie R. lentum Cov. & Rose – This is another species which unites, as R. lacustre does, the two main subdivisions of the genus, but has shorter, fewer-flowered racemes (six to ten) and bright red fruits. Introduced from western N. America in 1905.