Species

Ribes uva-crispa

Common Name(s)

Gooseberry

Family

Grossulariaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

RIBUVA

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial. Grass and scrub covered areas, rocky outcrops and forest margins.

Features

Deciduous spiny shrub up to about 2 m high. Leaves broadly deltoid up to 7 x 6 cm, petioles to 5 cm, palmately lobed. White flowers solitary or in small clusters. Fruit to about 25 mm diameter, green, yellow or sometimes dark red, translucent, lacking bloom, flesh sweet.

Similar Taxa

Can easily be distinguished from other Ribes species by the large fruit and the conspicuous spines.

Flowering

August, September, October, November

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

November, December, January, February

Year Naturalised

1872

Origin

Europe, N.Africa

Reason For Introduction
Agricultural

Reproduction
Spreads by seed.

Seed
Several seeds in each fruit

Dispersal
People, birds

Tolerances
Tolerates cold dry conditions very well.

This page last updated on 18 Jan 2010