Fuchsia Flowered Gooseberry (R. speciosum). Photograph by Brother Alfred Brousseau.

Ribes (ri bez) is comprised of about 120 species of shrubs and subshrubs of the northern hemisphere and the Andes Mountains of temperate South America. The genus has two wings, the gooseberries and the currants. Gooseberries have thorny and often bristly branches and stems, bristly fruits and inflorecences that are comprised of one to four flowers, while the currants totally lack thorns or bristles, and the flowers are produced in many-flowered racemes. There are, however, a number of species that exhibit intermediate features, and thus the genus has not been divided. Some authorities consider Ribes to represent the only genus of Grossulariaceae (the Gooseberry Family), while others place it as a subfamily within Saxifragaceae (the Saxifrage Family).

There are thirty-one Ribes species in California, twelve of which occur in the Santa Lucia Mountains: three currants and nine gooseberries. Noteworthy Ribes of this range include R. sericeum, an endemic species, R. roezlii, a montane disjunct, and R. menziesii hystrix, a nearly endemic lesser taxon. This text also provides a key to, and illustrations of, all the gooseberries of the Santa Lucia Mountains.

Ribes sericeum Eastwood. A, portions of stems, one with flowers and the other with a fruit; B, petal with margins spread out; C; petal with margins curled inward, as they appear in flower; D, flower; E, stamen; F, buds. Figure A is from Leroy Abrams' "Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States," vol. 2 (Stanford University Press); figures B to F accompanied the original description of the species (Eastwood 1902).

The earliest specimens of Ribes sericeum, from Post's Ranch and Slate's Hot Springs, were collected by Alice Eastwood in June of 1893. Eastwood, curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences, must have failed to closely observe her own specimens, for it was not until Reason Plaskett sent her the type specimen that she recognized that a new species had been found (Eastwood 1902). Reason Alpha Plaskett, a carpenter and the father of at least six sons and four daughters, was one of the sons of William and Sarah Plaskett, who established a homestead at Gorda, on the Big Sur Coast, in 1869. The Plaskett family had hosted Alice Eastwood on her Santa Lucia Mountains expeditions of 1893 and 1897, and Reason Plaskett sent her a number of specimens of local plants in 1897 and 1898 (Cantelow & Cantelow 1957, Clark 1991, census of 1880).

Eastwood believed that plants represented by at least six of Plaskett's specimens warranted botanical recognition, two of which she named in honor of him: Nemophila plaskettii (= N. parviflora) and Linanthus plaskettii (= L. parviflorus) (Cantelow & Cantelow 1957). Only two of these taxa have stood the test of botanical scrutiny: Ribes sericeum and Ribes menziesii hystrix. One that didn't make it was Ribes sericeum var. viridescens, the type of which was collected by Plaskett at Gorda in January of 1898. Eastwood considered the specimen to be sufficiently different from the typical species because "the flowers are smaller and greenish, the leaves are more densely clothed with silky white hairs, and are more orbicular-reniform. The peduncles in the specimens examined all have single flowers" (Eastwood 1902). Mr. Plaskett collected the type specimen of Ribes sericeum along Spruce Creek in December of 1897. The specific name sericeum refers to the silky pubescence on the upper surface of the leaves.

"Coast just south of Monterey County line, near stream." Robert Hoover #6673 (CAS), March 16, 1947.
"Trail up Pine Mt." E. G. Dudley (CAS), February 26, 1908.
"Near Doty's, south side of Hearst Ranch." William R. Dudley (DS), March 2, 1902.
"Near Coy's place, San Luis Obispo County." William R. Dudley (DS), January 5, 1905.
"Spring at head of Franklin Creek." William R. Dudley (DS), January 5, 1905.
"Santa Rosa Creek." Clare Hardham #54 (CAS), February 24, 1956.
"Along Santa Rosa Creek, nine miles east of Cambria." Clare Hardham #5207 (CAS), February 25, 1960.
"Cambria." Robert Hoover #6579 (CAS), January 3, 1947.
"Upper Morro Creek, near stream." Robert Hoover #6571 (CAS), December 14, 1946.
"Road to Atascadero six miles east of Morro Bay." Roxana Ferris #7682 (DS), April 16, 1929.
"Santa Margarita." N. K. Berg (UC), May 3, 1904.
"On Cuesta Grade six miles east of San Luis Obispo." Frederick Coville and Rimo Bacigalupi #154 (DS), April 14, 1925.
"Lopez Canyon, in shady places in canyon bottom." Robert Hoover #8387 (CAS), May 3, 1959.

I must note that the listing of Ribes sericeum in Clifton Smith's "A Flora of the Santa Barbara Region" (1976) is based on a specimen in the herbarium of the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden (#B 2723 SBBG), a duplicate of which is on file at the California Academy of Sciences. The specimen, which represents a plant with only partially mature flowers, was collected by E. R. Blakeley and others on the "north slope of Zaca Peak, Figueroa Mountain, San Rafael Mountains" on March 31, 1959, and was determined to be R. sericeum by Philip Munz on April 4, 1960. Munz must have been having an off day, for at a glance it can be seen that the specimen lacks any internodal bristles, which are dense in R. sericeum. On closer observation it can also be seen that the specimen is not glandular, the styles exceed the anthers, and the anthers are lanceolate (as opposed to oblong). The specimen probably represents Ribes roezlii.

As implied by its name, this is a montane species that is common in the higher mountains of the California Floristic Province. It ranges from southwestern Oregon to Napa and Sonoma counties in the North Coast Ranges, and through the Sierra Nevada, with disjunct populations in the Santa Lucia, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges (its most southern location is in San Diego County. The nearest populations to those in the Santa Lucia Mountains are in the San Rafael Mountains of Santa Barbara County. In 1879 Eduard von Regel, director of the botanical garden of St. Petersburg, named this species for Benito Roezl, who collected the seeds (probably in the Sierra Nevada) from which the type specimen was cultivated (Jepson 1936, Munz 1959).

Ribes roezlii can be distinguished from the other gooseberries of the Santa Lucia Mountains fairly easily. If a plant has thorns only at the nodes (joints), its leaves do not have sticky glands on the lower surface, and the hypanthium (the portion of the floral tube between the ovary and sepals) is longer than wide, you have found it.

Ribes roezlii in fruit. Photograph by Charles Webber.

Ribes roezlii in flower. Photograph by Brother Alfred Brousseau.

For many years Porcupine Gooseberry was thought to be endemic to the Big Sur Coast, but it has also been found on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, and is fairly common in the San Luis Range west-southwest of San Luis Obispo (which is separated from the Santa Lucia Mountains by the Los Osos Valley). Ribes menziesii hystrix is one of a number of named entities of the R. menziesii complex, within which Jepson (1936) recognized nine varieties. Variety hystrix is distinguished by its large yellow thorns, its densely spiny stems, its thinner leaves, and its petals that are about as long as the filaments (instead of much shorter than the filaments). These characteristics, however, are not always consistent. The name hystrix, porcupine-like or bristly, refers to the very well armed stems.

Like that of Ribes sericeum, the type specimen of R. menziesii hystrix was one of a number of specimens Reason Plaskett sent to Alice Eastwood in 1897 and 1898. The type specimen of the later, which had flowers but not fruits, was collected at Gorda in January of 1898. Eastwood had previously collected specimens with fruits at Pacific Valley while on her expeditions to the Santa Lucia Mountains in June of 1893 and May of 1897 (Eastwood 1902, Cantelow & Cantelow 1957). According to Jepson (1936), David Douglas was the first person to collect a specimen of this taxon, which he found at Point Lobos in 1831.

Ribes menziesii Pursh var. hystrix (Eastwood) Jepson. A, portion of a stem with flowers; B, petal; C, stamen; D, flower and bud; E, fruit. Figures A and E are from Leroy Abrams' "Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States," vol. 2 (Stanford University Press); figures B to D accompanied the original description of the species (Eastwood 1902).

R. amarum (Bitter Gooseberry)
R. aureum var. gracillimum (Golden Currant)
R. californicum (Hillside Gooseberry)
R. divaricatum var. pubiflorum (Stragling Gooseberry)
R. malvaceum (Chaparral Currant)
R. menziesii menziesii (Canyon Gooseberry)
R. quercetorum (Oak Gooseberry)
R. sanguineum var. glutinosum (Pink Flowered Currant)
R. speciosum (Fuchsia Flowed Gooseberry)

1a. Plants without thorns, spines or stiff bristles.  Flowers produced
    many flowered racemes.  Fruits glabrous (bald) or glandular pubescent,
    but not bristly or spiny (currants):
 2a. Flowers yellow, turning red with age.  Leaves generally wider in the
     outer half...                                               R. aureum.
 2b. Flowers white or pink.  Leaves generally widest around the middle
     or lower half:
  3a. Leaves densely hairy. Styles hairy...                   R. malvaceum.
  3b. Leaves sparsely hairy. Styles glabrous...              R. sanguineum.

1b. Plants with one or more thorns at the nodes (joints), at least
    on older stems, and often with bristles or thorny spines between
	the nodes.  Flowers singular or in loose clusters of four or fewer
	flowers.  Fruits with or without bristles or spines (Gooseberries):
 4a. Sepals four, calyx bright red, petals red; stamens two to three
     times longer than flowers...                              R. speciosa.
 4b. Sepals five, dull or dullish red, purple or green, petals white
     or cream; stamens not more than twice as long as the flowers:
  5a. Stems thorny only at the nodes or with remotely scattered
      spines between the nodes, but not densely bristly:
   6a. Fruits glabrous:
    7a. Leaves 2 to 6 cm. wide.  Sepals green or purplish and about
	    5-7 mm. long.  Anthers exserted beyond the petals...
		                                         ...R. divaricatum.
    7b. Leaves 1 to 2 cm. wide.  Sepals yellow and about 3 mm. long.
	    Anthers not exserted beyond the petals...       R. quercetorum.
   6b. Fruits bristly or spiny:
    8a. Leaves 2 to -4 cm wide and glandular on lower surface
	    (magnification may be necessary)...                  R. amarum
    8b. Leaves 1 to 3 cm. wide and not glandular:
      9a. Hypanthium (the portion of the floral tube between the
	      ovary and sepals) about as long as wide.  Fruits 9 to 10
		  mm wide...                               R. californicum.
      9b. Hypanthium longer than wide.  Fruits 14 to 16 mm. wide...
	                       	                             ...R. roezlii.
  5b. Stems densely bristly or spiny throughout:
    10a. Anthers oblong, rounded on both ends; styles shorter to
	     about as long as anthers...                       R. sericeum.
    10b. Anthers lanceolate, cleft at the base and acute at the
	     apex; styles longer than anthers:
     11a. Stems densely bristly but not spiny.  Nodal thorns generally
	      brown.  Leaves rather thick.  Petals much shorter than the
		  filaments...                       R. menziesii menzieii.
     11b. Stems very densely spiny (often thorny) throughout.  Nodal
	      thorns yellow and very large and stout.  Leaves rather thin.
		  Petals about as long as filaments...R. menziesii hystrix.

Bitter Gooseberry (R. amarum)

Straggling Gooseberry (R. divaricatum)

Golden Currant (R. aureum gracillimum). Photograph by Charles Webber.

Hillside Gooseberry (R. californicum). Photograph by Charles Webber.

Chaparral Currant (R. malvaceum). Photograph by Charles Webber.

Canyon Gooseberry (R. menziesii menziesii). Photograph by Beatrice Howitt.

Oak Gooseberry (R. quercetorum). Photograph by Brother Alfred Brousseau.

Pink Flowered Currant (R. sanguineum glutinosum). Photograph by Walter Knight.

Cantelow, Ella, and Herbert Cantelow. 1957. Biographical Notes on Persons in whose Honor Alice Eastwood Named Native Plants. Leaflets of Western Botany 8 (5): 83-101.

Eastwood, Alice. 1902. Some New Species of Pacific Coast Ribes. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, third series, Botany, vol. 2 (7) 241-255.

Hoover, Robert. 1970. The Vascular Plants of San Luis Obispo County. University of California Press.

Jepson, Willis Linn. 1936. Ribes in A Flora of California, vol. 2. Associated Students Store, University of California, Berkeley.

Matthews, Mary Ann. 1997. An Illustrated Field Key to the Flowering Plants of Monterey County. California Native Plant Society, Sacramento.

Mesler, Michael, and John Sawyer, Jr. Grossulariaceae in The Jespon Manual, Higher Plants of California. University of California Press.

Munz, Phillip. 1959. A California Flora. University of California Press.

Smith, Clifton F. 1976. A Flora of the Santa Barbara Region, California. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA.