E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of BC

Ribes oxyacanthoides L.
northern gooseberry (Canadian gooseberry; northern smooth gooseberry)
Grossulariaceae (Currant family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

General:
Deciduous shrub, loosely branched, 0.5-1.5 m tall; stems erect to spreading, bristly-hairy and usually with 1-3, slender, 0.8-1 cm long, nodal spines; bark yellowish brown to greyish-brown or grey.

Leaves:
Alternate, broadly egg-shaped, heart-shaped at the base, 1-5 cm wide, 3- to 5-lobed about half their length, the lobes rounded, deeply toothed, short glandular-hairy; stalks equal to or slightly longer than the blades, densely hairy and usually short glandular-hairy.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of usually 1-3 flowers in a drooping to spreading raceme much shorter than the leaves; flower stalks 1-3 mm long, not jointed below the flowers, glandular; petals whitish, egg-shaped, 2-3.5 mm long; hypanthium nearly cylindric to bell-shaped, 2-6 mm long; calyces pale greenish-white, glabrous to finely hairy; styles fused and soft-hairy to about midlength, about equaling the stamens.

Fruits:
Berries, round, reddish to deep-purplish blue, 1-1.2 cm long, glabrous.

Notes:
Three subspecies occur in BC:

1. Flowers mostly 8-11 mm long with sepals extended; leaves not glandular below.................. ssp. irriguum (Dougl.) Sinnott

1. Flowers about 7 mm long with sepals extended; leaves usually glandular short-hairy below

2. Hypanthium 5-6 mm long, not or only slightly flared; petals (2.5) 3.0-3.5 mm long; plants rare in SC BC...................... ssp. cognatum (Greene) Sinnott
2. Hypanthium 2.5-3.5 mm long, bell-shaped, flared; petals 2.0-2.5 mm long; the widely distributed subspecies...................... ssp. oxyacanthoides

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecological Framework for Ribes oxyacanthoides

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information	Value / Class
Site Information	Avg	Min	Max
Elevation (metres)	819	30	1910
Slope Gradient (%)	16	0	230
Aspect (degrees) [0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]	288	0	360
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric]	4	0	7
Modal Nutrient Regime Class	D
# of field plots species was recorded in:	507
Modal BEC Zone Class	BWBS
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in	BG(10), BWBS(170), CDF(1), CWH(10), ESSF(12), ICH(18), IDF(75), MS(12), PP(3), SBPS(16), SBS(134), SWB(3)
Source: Klinkenberg 2013

Moist woodlands, thickets and forest openings (ssp. cognatum and ssp. irriguum) or dry, open forest and rocky slopes (ssp. oxycanthoides) in the montane zone; frequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains (ssp. oxycanthoides), infrequent in SC and SE BC (ssp. irriguum), rare in SC BC (ssp. cognatum); N to S AK, YT and NT, E to PQ and S to PA, IL, MN, NE and WY.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Scientific Name	Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. cognatum		S1S2 (2015)	Red	Not Listed
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. oxyacanthoides	Native	S5	Yellow	Not Listed

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer.

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Grossularia hirtella (Michx.) Spach
Ribes hirtellum var. calcicola (Fernald) Fernald
Ribes hirtellum var. saxosum (Hook.) Fernald
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. calcicola Fernald
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. hirtellum (Michx.) Scoggan
Ribes oxyacanthoides var. saxosum (Hook.) Coville

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