Ribes velutinum

Desert gooseberry

Family: Grossulariaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Desert gooseberry is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Mountains, Transverse Ranges, Great Basin, and Desert Mountains in sagebrush steppe, juniper woodland, and pine forest at elevations of 700 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white to yellow flowers in small clusters of 1 to 4 blossoms. Growing over 2 meters tall with stout, arched stems and distinctive nodal spines, it forms an impressive woodland shrub. Its leaves are small, ranging from 0.5 to 2 centimeters wide, with crenate edges and varying from glabrous to densely pubescent. The fruit is a 6 to 7 millimeter berry that transitions from yellow to purple, often covered in short glandular hairs.

Habitat: Sagebrush steppe, juniper woodland, pine forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 700-3500 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, SNH, Teh, TR, GB, DMtns

California counties: Inyo, Siskiyou, San Bernardino, Mono, Modoc, El Dorado, Lassen, Plumas, San Benito, Kern, Ventura, San Diego, Alpine, Fresno, Tulare, Los Angeles, Placer, Riverside, Shasta, Nevada, Trinity, Sierra, Tuolumne, San Luis Obispo

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