Gooseberry (Grossularia), a sub-genus of Ribes (see CURRANT), distinguished by a thorny stem, a more or less bell-shaped calyx and flowers on 1-3-flowered stalks. The common gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia) is a native of many parts of Europe and the north of Asia, growing wild in rocky situations and in thickets, particularly in mountainous districts; but it is a doubtful native of Britain, although now to be seen in hedges and thickets almost everywhere. There are three main varieties, formerly regarded as distinct species : (1) R. Grossularia, now merely var. pubescens, in which the hairs are glandular and cover the berries ; (2) var. uva-crispa, in which the hairs are non-glandular, and fall off the berries before ripening ; (3) var. reclinatum, in which hairs are found only on the leaf-margins. The varieties produced by cultivation are very numerous, chiefly in England, where, and particularly in Lancashire, the greatest attention has been paid to the cultivation of this valuable fruit-shrub. In the south of Europe it is little known. It does not appear to have been known to the ancients. Its cultivation cannot be certainly referred to an earlier date than the 17th century, and was only in its infancy at the middle of the 18th, when the largest gooseberries produced in Lancashire scarcely weighed more than oz., whereas prize gooseberries now sometimes reach 2 oz. Many well-known diversities of form, colour, and flavour, as well as of size, mark the different varieties. For the production of new varieties the gooseberry is propagated by seed ; otherwise, generally by cuttings, which grow very freely. Any good garden soil suits the gooseberry. It is rather the better for a little shade, but suffers from much. The bushes are trained in various ways, but it is necessary to prune so that they may not be choked up with shoots ; yet care ought to be taken to have an abundant supply of young wood, which produces the largest berries. Summer rather than winter pruning is now largely recommended. Besides its well-known wholesomeness and pleasantness, and its use for making an excellent preserve and jelly, the ripe fruit is used for making wine and vinegar. An effervescent gooseberry wine, which might well claim attention under its own name, is often fraudulently sold as champagne. The use of unripe gooseberries for tarts increases the value of this fruit-shrub. The gooseberry season is prolonged by training plants on north walls, and by covering the bushes with matting when the fruit is nearly ripe. Unripe gooseberries may be kept in jars or bottles, which are closely sealed while heated to expel air, and placed in a cool cellar, to be used for tarts in winter.
Various derivations have been given of the name gooseberry, but most probably the first syllable is a corruption of grosaille, the French name of the fruit, from which also comes the Scotch grozet or grozart. Attempts to introduce the European gooseberry into North America have invariably failed, owing to the appearance, sooner or later, of mildew among the plants. Among the other species or varieties most worthy of notice are R. oxyacanthoides, extending across the upper North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and now largely grown for market in the middle states ; R. divaricatum and R. irriguum, both of north-west America—all agreeable, though small and more or less acid ; R. gracile, found in mountain-meadows from New York to Virginia, with blue or purplish berries of exquisite flavour ; R. aciculare, a Siberian species, with sweet, well-flavoured yellowish or purplish smooth berries ; all of which, and probably others, seem to deserve more attention than they have yet received from horticulturists.—The Snowy-flowered Gooseberry (R. niveum), a native of America, is remarkable for its beautiful white pendulous flowers. Its berries in size and colour resemble black currants, and make delicious tarts. R. speciosum, from the same region, is very ornamental.—R. saxatile, of Siberia, and other species, forming the sub-genus Botryocarpum, have a character intermediate between currants and gooseberries, being prickly shrubs, with their berries in racemes.—The so-called Cape or Peruvian Gooseberry is a Physalis (q. v.).
For the Coromandel Gooseberry, see CARAMBOLA.—The GOOSEBERRY Bug is the Harvest Bug (q.v.).