Ribes hirtellum


Ribes hirtellum is a North American species of gooseberry known by the common names American gooseberry, hairy-stem gooseberry, hairy gooseberry, and wedge-leaf gooseberry, native to Canada and to the northeastern and north-central United States. Cultivated gooseberries are derived from this species and from Ribes uva-crispa.

Use in gooseberry breeding

Whereas R. uva-crispa crops have been devastated by American gooseberry mildew, Podosphaera mors-uvae, which was accidentally introduced to Europe, R. hirtellum is resistant. It is one of four American species that have been interbred with R. uva-crispa to produce resistant cultivars similar to the original R. uva-crispa cultivars. Cultivar 'Houghton' is one of those obtained by crossing R. uva-crispa with R. hirtellum.