Jostaberry Jostaberry The jostaberry ("Ribes" × "nidigrolaria") is a complex-cross fruit bush in the genus "Ribes", involving three original species, the black currant "R. nigrum", the North American coastal black gooseberry "R. divaricatum", and the European gooseberry "R. uva-crispa". It is similar to "Ribes × culverwellii", the Jochelbeere, which is descended from just two of these species, "R. nigrum" and "R. uva-crispa". The cultivated plants are tetraploid. They are descended from two separate first-generation crosses, both of which produced very few fruit. Fertile tetraploids were produced using colchicine. The name "Jostaberry" was created via combining the German words for blackcurrant and
Ribes divaricatum borne on petioles. The inflorescence is a small cluster of hanging flowers, each with reflexed purple-tinted green sepals and smaller, lighter petals encircling long, protruding stamens. The fruit is a sweet-tasting berry up to a centimeter wide which is black when ripe. It is similar to "Ribes lacustre" and "Ribes lobbii", but the former has smaller, reddish to maroon flowers and the latter has reddish flowers that resemble those of fuchsias and sticky leaves. The berries are edible, and are ripe when black. The fruit was food for a number of Native American groups of the Pacific Northwest, and other