Wanted, correct name of wild berry

In Southeastern Kentucky and Northeastern Tennessee there is a small shrub which grows in wooded areas and which produces a round berry, about 5/16" to 1/2" in diameter. This is known locally as a Wild Gooseberry, I'm pretty sure it isn't related to the Gooseberry or the Currant, neither the plant, leaves, or fruit look anything like a Gooseberry. I don't have a picture and I'm working from memory. The unripe berry is green in color, with dark speckles on the skin, similar to those on a Golden Delicious apple. It is hard, and so sour it'll about give you lockjaw if you bite into it.

As the berry ripens in the fall it takes on a yellowish color, and develops a pleasing sweet but tart flavor. My mother used this berry to make a very good tasting preserve, it was yummy with her homemade biscuits. Of course we children would just pick the berries and eat them on the spot too. Thanks, and I hope someone else remembers them.

Jim

I googled images of "wild gooseberry" and got to this site with a picture of a yellow berry like the one you described (scroll down a bit). It calls it a wild gooseberry too:
http://cabd0.tripod.com/cabsmushroompage/id4.html

I then typed the scientific (Ribes uva-crispa) name into Wikipedia but it just took me to the "Gooseberry" page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribes_uva-crispa

Does the one in the picture look like what you are remembering?

Thanks Raykhona for the reply.

No that link doesn't show the plant I'm asking about. The one I'm talking about has rounded ovate leaves sort of like a blueberry leaf, is about 12 to 18 inches tall and has grayish bark if I'm remembering correctly. The fruit or berry does not have the "latitude lines" from top to bottom as the gooseberry does. The remnants of the flower don't hang on to the bottom of the fruit the way they do on the gooseberry. They ripen in the fall I think, but it's been a long time since I saw one. Wish I had a picture, but it's rather inconvenient for me to get to where I know they grow. I'll keep googling and see if I can find anything.

BTW the last chinquapin bushes I ever saw were in Odenton MD., I had a delivery at a pizza plant and there were three or four chinquapin bushes beside the access road.

Jim

Just a thought...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinium_arboreum

You might try looking up other Vaccinium species that occur in your area also.

Thank you altagardener;

I looked at the genus Vaccinium, and at all the family Ericaceae listed on Wikipedia and didn't find the plant I'm remembering. The one I'm looking for is a smaller plant than Vacconium_arboreum, I don't think I ever saw one reach two feet tall. The ripe fruit color is different, being a greenish yellow, sometimes with just a hint of pink. It has black specks on the skin similar to the specks on some apples. It's been sixty years of more since I regularly saw them, but I don't recall them having the pentagonal flower scar on the bottom of the fruit, if it was there it was very small.

I'll keep looking, and thanks to all who have replied.

Jim