Ribes quercetorum

Identification

Gallery

Description

A sprawling 3' deciduous shrub. Its flowers are yellow in Mar.-May. Native to foothill slopes in south coast ranges and Sierra Nevada. It likes sun to part shade, partly dry to moderate water. This is difficult to establish unless you meet its needs. It tolerates some bad climates well but when you plant you need to be careful. It is somewhat root sensitive. And you need to pick spots that either seasonal wet or within a few feet of a water source. After the first summer no direct water. The sites I saw them in in the wild were like this. They came up in a spot that is seasonally wet only once in many years when there have been 3 or 4 high rainfall years. The rest of the time the surface is dry. I've seen this plant in many different spots in the interior. It usually grows on clay based soils. It grows in rainfall areas of @7 inches/year. I've seen in what appear to be dry spots within this rainfall (south of Shandon, west of McKittrick, east of Pozo). I've seen it in seasonal springs (Carrizo Plains at the American Ranch). The berries are a fine tasting red to black. The stems are heavily armed. Click here for more about California Currants and Gooseberries