fuchsia-flowered gooseberry ~ 02/18/12 ~ Fort Ord

fuchsia-flowered gooseberry
Ribes speciosum
Grossulariaceae

We seem to see fuchsia-flowered gooseberries at all of our favorite spots, from sandy Fort Ord to the inland hills of Garland Ranch. It's an extraordinarily spiny plant and best avoided while hiking. The bright red flowers remind me of Asian lanterns. There are 52 native spp./ssp. of Ribes in CA. The gooseberry and currant flowers can be quite showy and beautiful. I want to start recognizing some of the other spp., like R. californicum (CA gooseberry), but I suspect whenever I've seen them I may have figured they were garden escapees and simply ignored them.

fuchsia-flowered gooseberry
Ribes speciosum
Grossulariaceae

Finally, a native wildflower! Apparently, gooseberries are edible... if you can get past the spiny fruit. For a nice blog post of eating gooseberries (note: not the same species as shown above), check out Rooted in California.