Found at Point Lobos park in coastal Monterey County, California. No leaves in the photo but lots of thorns and these unusual looking “flowers”. Thanks let me know if there’s any other information I can provide.
I am going to say this is a Rose hip, based on a Rosa pulverulenta I saw last week at UBCBG: September 2021 in the Garden - plenty of flowers to see. It's not likely to be the same species - your long prickles look longer than on the ones at UBC, and this species should not be growing wild in California. Were there any leaves?
Rosa gymnocarpa is native to California, also has prickly stems and fruits like this, though I'm not so sure of the shape of the hips. Rosa spithamea doesn't look prickly enough. Rosa minutifolia might be in the running too - I can't find photos of the hips, but the page at Rosa minutifolia - FNA (semanticfna.org) says the hips are eglandular, which means no glands, and I think those hairs or prickles look glandular. I don't know these, but you might anyway be interested in the page I was on - Home > Plants of Point Lobos State Reserve (calscape.org) (there are at least four pages). and I entered Rosa into the search box.
The 3-point spines on the stem are screaming out Berberis. Not sure which species, though. Otherwise, the fruit looks more Ribes; not sure that any have 3-point spines, though? Definitely not a rose.
Thanks for correcting that, Michael. No Berberis show up on that Point Lobos page, but there are 18 species listed in California on the search on that page.
I would lean towards a Ribes species-perhaps Ribes speciosum aka Californian Fuschia or Fuschiaflower Gooseberry. Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry, Ribes speciosum
I just want to point out that @DerekK got in first with the Ribes speciosum ID, but he's a new member and I didn't realize that his posting was in moderation, so you all didn't see it.
Welcome to the forums @DerekK wcutler is correct..your post was not there when I agreed with David in LA. We all seem agreed now on Ribes.
@wcutler @silversurfer Thank you for the welcome. I’m always amazed at the vast knowledge of everyone on this site and I do enjoy learning about subjects beyond my normal gardening level. Thanks again.