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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

White-stem Gooseberry
Ribes inerme Rydb.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Saxifrage (Saxifragaceae)
Flowering: May-June
Field Marks: This gooseberry differs from most others by having few or no bristles or spines on the branches. The leaves are smooth.
Habitat: Along streams, shaded woods, particularly in the mountains.
Habit: Much-branched shrub up to 8 feet tall.
Twigs: Few or no spines at the nodes, and few or no bristles between the nodes.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, up to 3 inches long, up to 3 inches wide, palmately 3- or 5-lobed, each lobe with a few rounded teeth, smooth, rounded or heart-shaped at the base.
Flowers: 1-4 in the axils of the leaves, on stalks shorter than the leaf stalks.
Sepals: 5, united to form a cup, green or purplish-tinged, smooth.
Petals: 5, free from each other, white, 1/12-1/8 inch long.
Stamens: 5.
Pistils: Ovary inferior.
Fruits: Berries spherical, smooth, wine-colored, 1/4-1/2 inch in diameter.
Notes: The berries are eaten by birds and bears.

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/5/ribeiner.htm
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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:25:57 EST
Reston, VA [vaww54]