Ribes uva-crispa
Ribes uva-crispa | |
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In flower | |
Scientific classification![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Grossulariaceae |
Genus: | Ribes |
Species: | R. uva-crispa |
Binomial name | |
Ribes uva-crispa | |
Synonyms[1] | |
Ribes uva-crispa, known as gooseberry or European gooseberry,[2] is a species of flowering shrub in the currant family, Grossulariaceae. It is native to Europe, the Caucasus and northern Africa.[3] Gooseberry bushes produce an edible fruit and are grown on both a commercial and domestic basis. Its native distribution is unclear, since it may have escaped from cultivation and become naturalized. For example, in Britain, some sources consider it to be a native,[2] others to be an introduction.[4] The species is also occasionally naturalized in scattered locations in North America.[2]
It is one of several species in the subgenus Ribes subg. Grossularia.
Etymology[edit]
The "goose" in "gooseberry" has usually been seen as a corruption of either the Dutch word kruisbes or the allied GermanKrausbeere,[5] or of the earlier forms of the French groseille. Alternatively, the word has been connected to the Middle High German krus (curl, crisped), in Latin as grossularia. However, the Oxford English Dictionary takes the obvious derivation from goose and berry as probable because "the grounds on which plants and fruits have received names associating them with animals are so often inexplicable that the inappropriateness in the meaning does not necessarily give good grounds for believing that the word is an etymological corruption".[6] The French for gooseberry is groseille à maquereau, translated as "mackerel berries", due to their use in a sauce for mackerel in old French cuisine.[7] In Britain, gooseberries may informally be called goosegogs.[8] The specific epithet uva-crispa literally means "curved grape".[9]
"Gooseberry bush" was 19th-century slang for pubic hair, and from this comes the saying that babies are "born under a gooseberry bush".[7]
Description[edit]
The gooseberry is a straggling bush growing to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in height and width,[10] the branches being thickly set with sharp spines, standing out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots. The bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply crenated 3 or 5 lobed leaves.
The fruits are berries, smaller in wild gooseberries than the cultivated varieties, but often of good flavour. The berries are usually green, but there are red (to purple), yellow, and white variants.[10]
In cultivation[edit]
Gooseberry growing was popular in the 19th century, as described in 1879:[11]
References[edit]
- ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ ab c Morin, Nancy R. (2009). "Ribes uva-crispa". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 8. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 28 August 2020 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
- ^ Doronina, A.Ju. & Terekhina, N.V. (2003–2009). "Ribes uva-crispa L. – European gooseberry". AgroAtlas – Interactive Agricultural Ecological Atlas of Russia and Neighboring Countries. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
- ^ Stace, Clive (2010). New Flora of the British Isles (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-521-70772-5.
- ^ Wedgwood, Hensleigh (1855). "On False Etymologies". Transactions of the Philological Society (6): 69.
- ^ "Gooseberry". Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper. 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ ab Oldfield, Molly; Mitchinson, John (23 March 2009). "QI: Quite Interesting facts about costermongers". Daily Telegraph.
- ^ "Goosegog". Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press. 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. p. 224. ISBN 9781845337315.
- ^ ab Harry Baker (1999). Growing Fruit. Octopus Publishing Group. p. 70. ISBN 9781840001532.
- ^ ab Baynes, T. S., ed. (1879). "Gooseberry". The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature. 10. C. Scribner's sons. p. 779.