About
Ribes velutinum, the desert gooseberry, is a spiny, leathery-leaved shrub of the deserts and mountains of the western United States.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Mature size
- Up to 2 m (6.5 ft) tall.
Field notes
Morphology
A spreading shrub to 2 m tall with thick, arching, branching stems and spines up to 2 cm at the nodes. Thick, leathery, rounded leaves are shallowly 3–5-lobed and dotted with glandular hairs. Small tubular white or yellowish flowers appear singly or up to four together in April and May, followed by berries 0.5–1 cm wide.
Distribution & habitat
Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, California and Arizona, in sagebrush scrub, pinyon–juniper woodland and yellow pine forest.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Crossed R. velutinum with another species?Register the cross. If it's not documented yet you'll be the first contributor; if someone already registered it, you'll be taken there to add your photo.