Ribes thacherianum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ribes thacherianum |
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| R. thacherianum growing in Escondido, California | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Ribes
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| Species: |
thacherianum
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| Synonyms | |
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R. menziesii var. thacherianum Jeps. 1936 (basionym) |
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Ribes thacherianum, also known as the Santa Cruz gooseberry, is a special kind of currant plant. It's quite rare and can only be found on one island off the coast of California.
What is the Santa Cruz Gooseberry?
The Santa Cruz gooseberry is a shrub that grows upright. It can reach a height of about 2.5 meters, which is over 8 feet tall! Its stems are covered with soft, light hairs and tiny bristles. Many spots on the stems, called nodes, have hard, sharp spines.
What Does It Look Like?
The leaves of this plant are small, about 2 to 3 centimeters (or 0.8 to 1.2 inches) long. They are gently divided into five parts, and each part has dull, slightly toothed edges.
The plant's flowers usually grow in groups of one or two. Each flower has five pink parts called sepals that bend backward. Inside these sepals is a tube made of smaller white petals. The parts that hold pollen (called stamens) and the part that receives pollen (called stigmas) stick out from the flower's center.
After the flowers bloom, the plant produces a purple berry. This berry is about 7 millimeters wide and is covered thickly with bristles and hairs.
Where Does It Grow?
The Santa Cruz gooseberry is a plant that is endemic to a specific place. This means it naturally grows only in that one area and nowhere else in the world. For this gooseberry, that special place is Santa Cruz Island.
Santa Cruz Island is one of the northern Channel Islands off the coast of California. This island is also part of the Channel Islands National Park. The Santa Cruz gooseberry likes to grow in the pine forests found in the coastal ravines (which are like small valleys or canyons).
