Ribes speciosum

Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry

Family: Grossulariaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry is a California native shrub found in coastal areas including the central Coast Ranges, southern San Francisco Bay, southern Coast Ranges, southern California, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in coastal-sage scrub and chaparral at elevations of 5 to 2,125 meters. Flowering from January to May, this plant produces striking red flowers with curled inward petals that dangle in small clusters of 1 to 4 blooms. Growing to less than 2 meters tall with distinctive three-pronged nodal spines and somewhat bristly stems, it forms a dense and intricate shrub. Its semi-deciduous leaves are leathery, 1 to 3.5 centimeters long, with a dark green shiny upper surface and lighter green underside, featuring crenate lobes and a wedge-shaped to truncate base. The fruit is a 10 to 12 millimeter berry covered in dense glandular bristles.

Habitat: Coastal-sage scrub, chaparral

Bloom period: Jan-May

Elevation: 5-2125 m

Bioregions: CCo, s SnFrB, SCoRO, SCo, WTR, PR

California counties: San Diego, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Mendocino, Santa Clara, Monterey, Alameda

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