About Ribes lasianthum Greene
Ribes lasianthum Greene is a currant species commonly called alpine gooseberry and woolly-flowered gooseberry. It is native to California, growing in the San Gabriel Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with its native range extending just into Nevada. This plant inhabits high mountain environments, most often in open areas. It is a spreading shrub that reaches 0.5 to 1 meter, or 20 to 40 inches, in height. Its stems are fuzzy and prickly, with spines up to 1 centimeter long growing at the nodes. The leaves are hairy, glandular, 1 to 2 centimeters long, and divided into toothed lobes. The inflorescence is an erect raceme holding 2 to 4 flowers, each less than 1 centimeter long. Each flower has five yellow sepals that curve backward away from the central corolla, a neat tube formed by yellow petals. Five stamens and two styles sit inside the corolla tube. The fruit is a hairless red berry 6 to 7 millimeters wide.
