Ribes amarum

Bitter gooseberry, Bitter Gooseberry

Family: Grossulariaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 3

Bitter gooseberry is a California native shrub found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, and southwestern California in chaparral habitats at elevations of 15 to 1,910 meters. Flowering from February to April, this plant produces white petaled flowers with purple sepals in small clusters of one to three blossoms. Growing to less than 2 meters tall with distinctive nodal spines, the shrub has glandular-hairy branches and arching stems. Its leaves are 2 to 4 centimeters wide, featuring soft glandular hairs and a rounded blade shape. The fruit develops as a purple berry approximately 15 to 20 millimeters long, covered in stiff glandular bristles.

Habitat: Chaparral

Bloom period: Feb-Apr

Elevation: 15-1910 m

Bioregions: SNF, Teh, SnFrB, SCoRO, SW.

California counties: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Inyo, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, Mariposa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, El Dorado, Kern, San Benito, Ventura, Butte, Contra Costa, Tulare, Alameda, Marin, Tuolumne, Santa Clara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.