Grossularia acicularis (Smith) Spach.

Shrubs to 1 m tall or slightly more. Branchlets glabrous; nodal spines 3-7, verticillate, needlelike, to 1 cm; internodes spiny. Buds oblong, 4-6 mm, apex acute; scales scarious. Petiole to 3 cm, glabrous to sparsely puberulent; leaf blade broadly ovate to suborbicular, 1.5-3 × 3-5 cm, mostly glabrous, abaxial vein-axils sparsely puberulent, base truncate to cordate; lobes 3-5, margin coarsely acutely serrate, apex obtuse or acute; terminal lobe subequaling lateral ones. Flowers solitary or 2 or 3 in short racemes, bisexual; rachis 1-1.2 cm; bracts ovate to narrowly so, 2-3.5 mm, 3-veined, usually glabrous; pedicel 3-6 mm, glabrous or sparsely stalked glandular. Calyx greenish white tinged yellow or pink; tube broadly campanulate, 4-6 mm, glabrous on both surfaces; lobes reflexed, spreading or erect in fruit, oblong to spatulate, 5-6 mm. Petals white, obovate, 2-3.5 mm. Stamens slightly longer than petals; filaments white; anthers ovoid-ellipsoid. Ovary glabrous, rarely sparsely stalked glandular. Style glabrous, divided for ca. 1/2 its length. Fruit red, globose, 1.2-1.5 cm, glabrous or sparsely stalked glandular. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

Forest margins, thickets, rocky slopes; 1500-2100 m. N Xinjiang (Altay Shan) [Mongolia, Russia].