Re: Gooseberry and Gooseberry-leaved
- Subject: Re: [IGSROBIN] Gooseberry and Gooseberry-leaved
- From: C* S* L*
- Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 16:50:17 EDT
In a message dated 4/12/02 5:18:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time, Laurie@LAEOM.COM
writes:
> I did also find a "gooseberry" in a catalog that is listed as P.
> grossularioides. Does anyone know if these are so similar as to be
> confused with each other? Or closely
> related? Or a renaming? Or none of the above?
>
Laurie,
None of the above! Two entirely different plants are referred to as
"gooseberry" (and neither one smells like a gooseberry!). I know ... I've
killed them both at various times.
If you are referring to a scented pelargonium, Gooseberry refers to a
crispum-style plant with variegated leaves, usually Peach, sometimes
something else that was mislabelled. Grown from cuttings. It is shown in
Scented Geraniums (Brawner & Becker) on page 85.
Pelargonium grossularioides is a species, and it is commonly referred to as
Gooseberry-leaved pelargonium. The leaf is supposed to look like the leaf to
a gooseberry plant. Its growing style is similar to apple/nutmeg, etc but
the dark green leaves are slightly fuzzy and often get a reddish tint,
particularly if you don't water frequently. Small magenta flowers. Just to
confuse the issue, it is often labelled "Coconut" and sold as a scented
pelargonium. Easily grown from seed. It is listed in Volume 1 of
Pelargoniums of Southern Africa, pages 20-21 and in Scented Geraniums
(Brawner & Becker) on page 84.
Cynthia Lohry
