Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Ribes quercetorum is a species of currant known by the common names rock gooseberry, oak gooseberry and oakwoods gooseberry. It is native to the mountains and hills of California from the San Francisco Bay Area south into Baja California and east into Arizona. Ribes quercetorum grows in woodlands, chaparral, and dry desert slopes and canyons. It is a spreading shrub producing arching stems up to 1. 5 meters (5 feet)long, the nodes along the stems bearing 1 to 3 spines each up to 1. 5 centimeters (0. 6 inch) long. The lightly hairy, glandular leaves are up to 3 centimeters (1. 2 inches) long and are divided into a few lobes which are toothed or lobed at their tips. The inflorescence is a raceme of 2 or 3 small flowers. Each flower has five reflexed yellow sepals around a tube-shaped ring of smaller cream-colored petals. The fruit is an spherical, edible black berry just under a centimeter (0. 4 inch) in diameter.

Plant type

Shrub

Size

5 ft Tall

Dormancy

Winter Deciduous

Calscape icon
Color

Yellow, Cream, Black

Flowering season

Winter, Spring

Special uses

Deer resistant

Sun

Full Sun, Partial Shade

Water

Low

Ease of care

Moderate

Sunset Zones

5, 7*, 8, 9, 11, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Plant communities

Foothill Woodland, Southern Oak Woodland

Hummingbirds
Bats
Birds
Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 73 likely

Confirmed Likely

Agrochola pulchella

Agrochola purpurea