The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Eglantine or sweet briar rose, Eglantine rose, rosier églantier, small-flower sweetbrier, sweet-briar rose, sweet-brier, sweetbrier rose

acicular rose, arctic rose, bristly rose, prickly rose, prickly wild rose

Habit Shrubs, erect; not rhizomatous. Shrubs, forming dense thickets.
Stems

10–30 dm;

distal branches arching, bark dark brownish red;

infrastipular prickles single or paired, curved, falcate, 6–12 × 3–7 mm, lengths varying or ± uniform, internodal prickles sometimes mixed with aciculi and glandular setae.

erect, stout, (3–)10–20(–25) dm, sparsely or densely branched distally;

bark pale brown with tips dull red, glabrous;

infrastipular prickles absent, internodal prickles dense, erect, subulate, terete, ± flattened, 9 × 4 mm, sparsely stipitate-glandular, mixed with dense aciculi.

Leaves

persistent, 4–6.5 cm;

stipules 6–10 × 2–4 mm, auricles 3–5 mm, margins stipitate-glandular, surfaces glabrous, eglandular;

petiole and rachis with pricklets, puberulent, stipitate-glandular;

leaflets 5–7(–9), viscid glands with ripe apple scent, terminal: petiolule 5–10 mm, blade mostly suborbiculate or broadly oval, 10–25 × 8–15 mm, base obtuse, margins 2- or multi-serrate, teeth 10–18 per side, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surfaces glabrous or pubescent, usually densely viscid-glandular, adaxial green, lustrous to dull, puberulent or glabrous.

5.5–15 cm;

stipules 20–25 × 3–8 mm, auricles flared or erect, 5–7 mm, margins usually entire, stipitate-glandular, surfaces glabrous, sometimes puberulent, sparsely sessile-glandular or eglandular;

petiole and rachis usually (rarely) with pricklets, glabrous or puberulent to pubescent, sessile-glandular;

leaflets 5–7 (on annual shoots), terminal: petiolule 6–20 mm, blade elliptic, ovoid, or ovate-lanceolate, 20–60 × 13–32 mm, firm, margins 1(–2+)-dentate-serrate, teeth 11–25 per side acute or obtuse, gland-tipped or eglandular, apex acute or obtuse, abaxial surfaces light green, glabrous or puberulent (on main veins), eglandular or sparsely to densely sessile-glandular, adaxial green, dull, glabrous or sparsely hairy.

Inflorescences

panicles, 1–3(–7)-flowered.

corymbs, 1 or 2(or 3)-flowered.

Pedicels

erect, 6–9 mm, densely stipitate-glandular, sometimes mixed with aciculi [and setae];

bracts 2, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 15 × 5 mm, margins stipitate-glandular, surfaces glabrous, eglandular.

reflexed as hips mature, slender, (13–)20–28(–35) mm, glabrous, stipitate-glandular or eglandular;

bracts 1–3, ovoid, 18–22 × 4–14 mm, margins entire, sessile- or short stipitate-glandular, surfaces glabrous, sometimes hairy, eglandular.

Flowers

2–4 cm diam.;

hypanthium obovoid or broadly oblong, 5–6 × 3–4 mm, eglandular, neck (0–)1–1.5 × 3–4 mm;

sepals erect or spreading, rarely reflexed, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 14–18 × 2 mm, margins mostly pinnatifid, tip 3–5 × 0.5–1 mm, abaxially densely stipitate-glandular;

petals bright or deep pink, 11–20 × 11–18 mm;

carpels 25–45, styles villous or glabrous, exsert 1–2 mm beyond stylar orifice (1.2–2 mm diam.) of hypanthial disc (2.5–4 mm diam.).

3–6 cm diam.;

hypanthium ovoid to oblong, 5–8 × 4–6 mm, glabrous, eglandular, neck 1 × 2.5–3 mm;

sepals spreading, often beak-capped, lanceolate, 20–33 × (2.5–)3–3.5 mm, tip 7–12 × 0.5–0.8 mm, margins entire, sometimes pinnatifid, abaxial surfaces glabrous, sometimes pubescent, eglandular or stipitate-glandular (north);

petals single, rose pink to pale pink, (13–)22–25 × (11–)20–25 mm;

stamens 75–100;

carpels 18–33, styles exsert 1 mm beyond stylar orifice (2 mm diam.) of ± flat hypanthial disc (3.5–4.5 mm diam.).

Hips

dark red, subglobose to broadly ovoid, ellipsoid, or pyriform, 10–25 × 7–22 mm, glabrous, sometimes setose, eglandular;

sepals tardily deciduous, mostly erect.

orange-red to bright red or blue-purple, globose to ellipsoid or urceolate, 10–23 × 9–11 mm, fleshy, glabrous, eglandular, neck 1–2 × 2–2.5 mm;

sepals persistent, erect, often beak-capped.

Achenes

15–25, tan, 3.5–4(–5) × 2–2.5(–3) mm.

basiparietal, 14–25, tan, 4 × 2–2.5 mm.

2n

= 35, 42.

Rosa rubiginosa

Rosa acicularis

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; Europe; w Asia; n Africa [Introduced widely worldwide]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CO; IA; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NH; NY; SD; VT; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Rosa rubiginosa has been introduced throughout Canada and the United States except the desert southwest. Plants are compact, upright shrubs without rhizomes. Stems have stout, falcate infrastipular prickles mixed with internodal prickles, aciculi, and glandular setae. Leaflet blades are densely viscid-glandular with ripe apple scent and margins 2- or multi-serrate with stipitate glands.

Rosa eglanteria Linnaeus is a formally rejected name that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Rosa acicularis is circumpolar in forests of Eurasia and North America. Octoploid subsp. acicularis occurs from Sweden across northern Russia to Outer Mongolia, northern China, Korea, and Japan; hexaploid subsp. sayi is found throughout northern North America. The two subspecies meet in an intergradation zone from eastern Siberia to Alaska, and perhaps Yukon (W. H. Lewis 1958), where ploidy level is required for subspecies or hybrid confirmation.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Distal branches: prickle lengths varying, aciculi and setae sometimes present; hips 10–25 × 10–22 mm; flowers 2.5–4 cm diam., sepals deciduous as or after hips mature, styles usually villous, stylar orifices 1/3 diam. of rims 4 mm diam.
var. rubiginosa
1. Distal branches: prickle lengths ± uniform, aciculi and setae absent; hips 10–12 × 7–9 mm; flowers 2–3.5 cm diam., sepals deciduous before or as hips mature, styles usually glabrous, stylar orifices 1/5–1/6 diam. of rims 2.5–4 mm diam.
var. nemoralis
1. Pedicels densely stipitate-glandular; leaflets 5 (or 7), margins 1(–2+)-dentate-serrate; sepal abaxial surfaces usually stipitate-glandular.
subsp. acicularis
1. Pedicels usually eglandular, if stipitate-glandular, not to apex or stipitate glands mostly sparse; leaflets 5–7, margins 1–2-dentate-serrate; sepal abaxial surfaces usually eglandular.
subsp. sayi
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 90. FNA vol. 9, p. 114.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Roseae > Rosa > subg. Rosa > sect. Caninae Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Roseae > Rosa > subg. Rosa > sect. Rosa
Sibling taxa
R. acicularis, R. arkansana, R. blanda, R. bracteata, R. bridgesii, R. californica, R. canina, R. carolina, R. cinnamomea, R. foliolosa, R. gallica, R. glauca, R. gymnocarpa, R. laevigata, R. lucieae, R. minutifolia, R. mollis, R. multiflora, R. nitida, R. nutkana, R. palustris, R. pinetorum, R. pisocarpa, R. rugosa, R. setigera, R. sherardii, R. spinosissima, R. spithamea, R. stellata, R. tomentosa, R. virginiana, R. woodsii
R. arkansana, R. blanda, R. bracteata, R. bridgesii, R. californica, R. canina, R. carolina, R. cinnamomea, R. foliolosa, R. gallica, R. glauca, R. gymnocarpa, R. laevigata, R. lucieae, R. minutifolia, R. mollis, R. multiflora, R. nitida, R. nutkana, R. palustris, R. pinetorum, R. pisocarpa, R. rubiginosa, R. rugosa, R. setigera, R. sherardii, R. spinosissima, R. spithamea, R. stellata, R. tomentosa, R. virginiana, R. woodsii
Subordinate taxa
R. rubiginosa var. nemoralis, R. rubiginosa var. rubiginosa
R. acicularis subsp. acicularis, R. acicularis subsp. sayi
Name authority Linnaeus: Mant. Pl. 2: 564. (1771) Lindley: Ros. Monogr., 44, plate 8. (1820)
Web links