Relatives
Grossularia reclinata (L.) Mill. - European or garden gooseberry.
Taxonomic position.
Family: Grossulariaceae DC; genus: Grossularia DC.Morphology and biology.
Perennial plant. Stocky shrub, up to 1 m high. Older branches are greyish-brown, younger ones are light yellow or slightly brownish. Prickles in the nodes are up to 1-1.5 cm long; in the internodes they are short and sparsely set. Leaves are naked or with short pubescence on both sides, up to 3 cm long and 1-3.5 cm wide, light, gently glaucous-green. Leaf blade is three- or five-lobed, with a heart-shaped base. Racemes are up to 8 cm long, oliganthous (8-13 flowers), with a naked rachis. Sepals are white, covered by tomentose pubescence from both sides. Hypanthium from the outside and ovary are naked. Petals are fan-shaped. Ovaries are either covered by glandular bristles (var. Glanduloso-setosa W.Koch) or smooth (var. Glabra W. Koch). Berries are globular, of greenish-yellow or, more often, reddish (sometimes dark red) colour. Blossoms in May/June; bears fruit in July/August. Entomophilous. Zoochore.Distribution.
Central and Southern Europe, including Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the mountains of Northern Africa. Within the territory of the ex-USSR: European part (as a wild plant only in Western Ukraine), Caucasus (as a wild plant in the northern foothills of the Caucasus, Daghestan and West, East and South Transcaucasus).Ecology.
Over mountainsides among the shrubs, in the middle mountainous zone.Utilization and economic value.
Used for food and as a source of vitamins. Progenitor of a majority of cultivated gooseberry varieties. Berries are consumed fresh or processed to make jelly, syrup, jam and wine.References:
Grossgeim, A.A. 1930. Flora of the Caucasus. Tiflis, p. 241.Flora of the USSR, 1939. Komarov V. L. (ed.). Moscow - Leningrad: Publishing Hhouse Acad. Sci. USSR, Vol. IX, p. 269-270.
Flora of Ukraine, 1953. Klokov M. V., Visjulina O.D. p. 517.
Poyarkova A.I. 1936. Critical review of wild currant and gooseberry species in the Soviet Union./ Flora and taxonomy of higher plants.// Works of the Botanical Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, series 1, issue 2, pp. 153-216.