English: Gummy gooseberry; Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry; Pioneer gooseberry.
Region: western coast of North America, Pacific Northwest region of the United States, British Columbia
Habitat: mesic to dry streambanks, rock outcrops, open woodlands, forests in the lowland and montane zones; drier, Pacific portion; maritime to submaritime, cool mesothermal climates; very dry to moderately dry, soils of moderate nitrogen content; sporadic or scattered in early-seral communities and open-canopy Douglas-fir forests on watersheds; forests and meadows of foothills and subalpine zones.
BotanyShrubby, deciduous, shade-intolerant perennial plant; deciduous; loosely branched; 50 to 100 cm high.
Stems: spreading, finely hairy, generally having three slender nodal spines, 7–12 mm long; bark brown, changing to a deep greyish-red later.
Leaves: borne on smooth stalks.; 1 to 3 cm long, 1 to 2 cm wide; alternate; ovate, shallowly heart-shaped at the base, shallowly cleft and deeply toothed; with 3–5 rounded lobes; upper surface is tacky and glabrous, or very sparsely haired; the lower surface is somewhat tomentous and glandular.
Inflorescence: of one or two flowers in a nodding raceme on stalks that are shorter than the leaves.
Flowers: flowers in early summer; flower's stalk is ± 2 mm long, densely bristled and glandular; white or light-pink petals, 4 to 6 mm long, broad and fanlike, curling back away from the flower-face, towards the flower stem; hypanthium is 3 to 6 mm long, shaped like a narrow bell; anthers extend well beyond petals; calyces are red and hairy, with 10 to 13 mm long lobes, oblong and narrow, coming to a point; styles are smooth, fusing to just below or just above the middle, about running equal to the stamens.
Fruits: 12 to 15 mm long; round to elliptic berries; reddish-brown, roughly bristled, glandular and edible.