Gooseberries: Ribes uva-crispa vs Ribes hirtellum

Self-tutoring about botany: the tutor wades into the distinctions between the European gooseberry and the American one.

Ribes uva-crispa is the old world gooseberry. Its berries can be an inch (2.5cm) across – its leaves, 6cm. However, its nodal spines typically max at less than a cm.

The gooseberry bush I’ve been observing has berries 1cm across, and leaves about 3cm. However, its nodal spines are easily over a cm long. It’s Ribes hirtellum, the American gooseberry.

Source:

gobotany.newenglandwild.org

gobotany.newenglandwild.org

wikipedia.org

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

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