About Ribes echinellum (Coville) Rehder
Ribes echinellum, commonly called the Miccosukee gooseberry, is a very rare North American shrub belonging to the currant family, native to the southeastern United States. Only a small number of its populations are known to exist. The first populations of this species were discovered in Florida in 1924, at Lake Miccosukee. Populations in South Carolina were discovered later, in 1957 and 1981; the 1957 South Carolina population is protected at Steven's Creek Heritage Preserve.
Miccosukee gooseberry grows as a shrub that reaches up to 150 cm (5 feet) in height. It bears spines at the nodes, which are the points where leaves attach to the stem. Its leaves are either round or egg-shaped, and have three lobes. It produces whitish or pale yellow flowers, and purple berries covered in spines. This species is cultivated in a small number of locations outside its native range, as far south as Hudson, Florida, but it does not reproduce in these non-native locations. It grows most abundantly in the shade of deciduous trees, on moist, well-drained soils with a pH between 6.7 and 7.4.
