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• Ribes rotundifolium

Ribes rotundifolium — Appalachian gooseberry

Facts

Appalachian gooseberry is a native species of rich, rocky woodlands. It resembles Missouri gooseberry, another currant that grows on rich soils, but its prickles are shorter, and its greenish-yellow flowers are smaller, with a green-purple (as opposed to white) hypanthium. The flowers, blooming in April and May, are visited by bees and hummingbirds, and its fruits are eaten by a variety of birds and mammals.

Habitat

Forests, talus and rocky slopes

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are three or more scales on the winter bud, and they overlap like shingles, with one edge covered and the other edge exposed

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

• Flowers

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused to one another

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  • white
  • yellow or green

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Hypanthium present

  the flower has a hypanthium

  Inflorescence type

  • the inflorescence has only one flower on it
  • the inflorescence is a raceme (a long unbranched stem with stalked flowers growing along it)

  Number of pistils

  1

  Ovary position

  the ovary is below the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes two cycles of petal- or sepal-like structures

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Stamen number

  • 4
  • 5

  Stamen position relative to petals

  the stamens are lined up with the sepals (antesepalous)

  Stamens fused

  the stamens are not fused to one another

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  purple

  Fruit tissue origin

  • the hypanthium of the flower becomes part of the fruit
  • there are no flower parts that form part of the fruit

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is fleshy

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a berry (fleshy, with the wall enclosing one or more sections, with two or more seeds)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Sap color

  the sap is clear and watery

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  NA

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant is a shrub (i.e., a woody plant with several stems growing from the base)

• Leaves

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf blade base shape

  • the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow
  • the base of the leaf blade is truncate (ends abruptly in a more or less straight line as though cut off)

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has lobes, or it has both teeth and lobes

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade flatness

  the leaf is flat (planar) at the edges

  Leaf blade hairs

  • NA
  • the hairs on the leaf blade are different from the choices given

  Leaf blade length

  15–50 mm

  Leaf blade scales

  there are no scales on the leaf blades

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)
  • the leaf blade is orbicular (roughly circular, as wide as long)

  Leaf blade texture

  the leaf blade is herbaceous (has a leafy texture)

  Leaf blade width

  20–50 mm

  Leaf duration

  the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk nectaries

  there are no nectaries on the leaf stalk

  Leaf teeth

  the leaf blade margin is crenate (with rounded teeth) or crenulate (with tiny, rounded teeth)

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  NA

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  • forests
  • talus or rocky slopes

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  • the bark of an adult plant is thin and smooth
  • the bark of an adult plant peels off easily or hangs off

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  NA

  Pith shape

  the outline of the pith in a twig is roughly round

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig winter color

  • brown
  • gray
  • purple
  • red

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  the plant has spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae