Victor’s gooseberry

Grossularia greeneiana (A. Heller) Coville & Britton; G. victoris (Greene) Coville & Britton; Ribes victoris var. minus (Janczewski) Jepson

Plants 0.5-2 m. Stems erect, pubescent, stipitate-glandular; spines at nodes 1-3, 5-15 mm; prickles on internodes sparse. Leaves: petiole 1.5-5 cm, pubescent, stipitate-glandular; blade round-ovate, 3-5-lobed, cleft 1/4-1/3 to midrib, 1.5-5 cm, base truncate to cordate, surfaces finely pubescent, stipitate-glandular, lobes rounded, margins with few shallow teeth, apex rounded. Inflorescences pendent, solitary flowers or 2-flowered racemes, 3-4 cm, axis pilose, stipitate-glandular. Pedicels not jointed, 3-4 mm, pubescent, stipitate-glandular; bracts lanceolate-ovate, 2-3 mm, pubescent, stipitate-glandular. Flowers: hypanthium greenish white, conic, as wide as long, 3 mm (1/4-1/3 as long as sepals), stipitate-glandular; sepals not overlapping, reflexed, white, pink-tinged at base, oblong-lanceolate, 6-11 mm; petals connivent, erect, white, oblong, inrolled, 3-5 mm; nectary disc not prominent; stamens 2 times as long as petals; filaments linear, ca. 6 mm, glabrous; anthers cream, lanceolate-sagittate, 3 mm, apex mucronate; ovary densely glandular, with longer glandless bristles; styles connate to middle, 9-11 mm, glabrous. Berries palatability not known, golden yellow, globose, 8-10 mm, glandular-bristly.

Flowering Apr. Wooded canyon slopes; 0-800 m; Calif.

Ribes victoris occurs in the counties around San Francisco Bay north to Sonoma and Lake counties.