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Ribes roezlii Reg.

Modern name

Ribes roezlii Regel

Synonyms

R. amictum Greene

A deciduous armed shrub 3 to 6 ft high; young shoots downy. Leaves 12 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 13 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, 14 in. long, the sepals 13 in. long; petals rosy white, erect, shorter than the sepals. Fruits purple, 12 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.


Genus

Ribes

Other species in the genus