WHITESTEM GOOSEBERRY 



Grossula'ria iner'mis, syns. Ri'bes iner'me, R. pur'pusi, R. valli'cola 1 



Flowers greenish or purplish, stalked 

 (stalks not jointed just below flowers), 

 bracted, in few- (1 to 4) flowered 

 clusters (racemes) in the leaf axils 



Outer united flower parts (calyx) 

 bell-shaped or top-shaped, hairless, 

 with 5 bent-back lobes usually about 

 same length as calyx tube 



B84 



Petals 5, white or pinkish, about J as 

 long as calyx lobes, reverse-egg-shaped, 

 inserted on rim of calyx tube 



Stamens 5, about twice as long as the 

 petals and alternating with them 



Leaves Alternate, stalked, somewhat 

 rounded, square _or heart-shaped at 

 base, usually hairless or sometimes 

 hairy-glandular, palmately 3- to fi- 

 lched; lobes pointed, scalloped or 

 coarsely toothed around edges; leaf- 

 stalks sometimes longer than _ leaf 

 blades and with a few scattered bristles 

 along them 



Stems with whitish bark, spineless or 

 with a few (1 to 3) spines or prickles 

 at the joints 



Berry wine-colored, smooth, hairless, 

 about % in. in diameter, tipped by 

 withered flower parts, persistent, not 

 separating from stalk when ripe 



Whitestein gooseberry, ranging from British Columbia to Montana, New 

 Mexico, and California, is probably the most widespread and common of the 

 western gooseberries. It is also known as smooth, wine, or common wild goose- 

 berry. The specific name inermis is a Latin adjective meaning unarmed, and 

 refers to the relative freedom of this gooseberry from spines. Whitestem 

 gooseberry is an appropriate common name because the bark of this species is 

 whitish. This shrub varies in height from 1 to 6 feet and is the least prickly 

 of the western species, the stem prickles usually being rather weak and few 



Syn. "R. saxosum" of Coulter and Nelson's manual, not Hook. 



