[2] Ribes roezlii is a spiny shrub growing erect to a maximum height around 1.2 metres (4 ft).

The hairless to hairy or woolly leaves are up to 2.5 centimetres (1 in) long and divided into 3 to 5 rounded, toothed lobes.

Each flower has five reflexed red-purple sepals around a tube-shaped ring of smaller white or pinkish petals, the stamens and stigmas protruding.

[4][5] Ribes roezlii is native to many of the mountain ranges of California, its distribution extending east into Nevada and north into Oregon.

[10] Seeds are dispersed by running water and by animals that eat the fruits, such as American black bears.