Ribes uva-crispa
Common name
gooseberry
Family
Grossulariaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
RIBUVA
Habitat
Terrestrial. Grass and scrub covered areas, rocky outcrops and forest margins.
Features
Deciduous spiny shrub up to about 2 m high. Leaves broadly deltoid up to 7 x 6 cm, petioles to 5 cm, palmately lobed. White flowers solitary or in small clusters. Fruit to about 25 mm diameter, green, yellow or sometimes dark red, translucent, lacking bloom, flesh sweet.
Similar taxa
Can easily be distinguished from other Ribes species by the large fruit and the conspicuous spines.
Flowering
August, September, October, November
Flower colours
White
Fruiting
November, December, January, February
Life cycle
Spreads by seed (several seeds in each fruit), dispersed by birds
Year naturalised
1872
Origin
Europe, N.Africa
Reason for introduction
Horticultural
Tolerances
Tolerates cold dry conditions very well.