GOOSEBERRY FAMILY. Grossulariaceae. 



; GOOSEBERRY FAMILY. Grossulariaceae. 



A small family, shrubs, with alternate, palmately-lobed 

 leaves, often sticky or resinous; the flowers almost always 

 in clusters; the pedicels with a bract at the base and 

 usually with two bractlets halfway up; petals five, or 

 rarely four, usually smaller than the calyx-lobes; stamens 

 of the same number as the petals and alternate with them; 

 ovary inferior, with two styles, more or less united; fruit 

 a berry, crowned with the withered remains of the flower. 



There are several kinds of Grossularia, or Gooseberry; 

 shrubs, sometimes with trailing branches, almost always 

 spiny; flowers with bracts; ovary often spiny. 



This is a stout shrub, one to four feet 

 Crossullria * * high, with thick, short, rigid little branches, 

 Rotzli (Ribes) the knobby joints more or less spiny. 

 Maroon and white The roundish leaves, less than an inch 

 California across, are lobed and scalloped, rather 



dull green and slightly downy, and the 

 flowers are about half an inch long, with maroon-colored 

 sepals and white petals, the base of the calyx-tube downy. 

 The purple berry is half an inch in diameter and covered 

 with stout prickles. This Gooseberry is common at 

 moderate altitudes. The drooping, red and white flowers 

 resemble tiny Fuchsias, both in color and form. G. 

 Menziesii, the Canyon Gooseberry, also has pretty fuchsia- 

 like flowers and grows in the Coast Ranges of California 

 and Oregon, blooming in the winter. 



In spite of its name, the flowers of this 



handsome shrub do not look as much like 

 Fuchsias as the two last. The stems are 



specidsa armed with long thorns and the leaves 



Red are thick, dark green, and glossy. The 



flowers have four sepals, four petals, and 



four stamens and are about an inch long 



and beautiful bright-red in color. The berry is dry and 



very prickly. This is common in the southern part 



California. 



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