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

burnet rose, rosier pimprenelle, Scotch rose, Scots rose

Habit Shrubs, erect; not rhizomatous.
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.

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.

stipules 9–14 × 2–4 mm, auricles 2.5–5 mm, margins entire or serrate-glandular, surfaces glabrous;

petiole and rachis with pricklets, pubescent, glandular;

leaflets: blade oblong-ovate or suborbiculate, (5–)7–9(–11) × 5–8 mm, or broadly elliptic, 5–22 × 5–12 mm, base obtuse or rounded to broadly cuneate, margins 1-serrate, sometimes multi-serrate, teeth 8–12 per side, gland-tipped, apex obtuse to acute.

Inflorescences

panicles, 1–3(–7)-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.

bracts absent.

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.).

hypanthium 3–5 × 3–4 mm;

sepal tip 2–3 mm, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate;

petals white, 15–25 × 14–23 mm;

styles exsert 2 mm beyond stylar orifice of hypanthial disc.

Hips

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

sepals tardily deciduous, mostly erect.

Achenes

15–25, tan, 3.5–4(–5) × 2–2.5(–3) mm.

8–12, dark tan, 4 × 2.5 mm.

Prickles

internodal, dense on main stems, sparser on some flowering branches, paired or single, erect or ± curved, terete, 5–6 × 1–3 mm, mixed with shorter prickles and usually aciculi.

2n

= 35, 42.

= 28.

Rosa rubiginosa

Rosa spinosissima

Phenology Flowering May–Jun.
Habitat Disturbed areas
Elevation 0–500 m (0–1600 ft)
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
CT; IL; IN; KS; MA; ME; MO; NH; NJ; NY; OH; TN; VA; VT; WI; NB; ON; QC; Europe; Asia (China, Japan) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Atlantic Islands (Iceland), Pacific Islands (New Zealand)]
[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.)

Rosa spinosissima hybridizes with other species of the genus. Some garden cultivars are more robust and glandular than wild types.

Rosa spinosissima is an erect, relatively low subshrub characterized by erect, relatively short stems with relatively long rhizomes forming dense patches. Stems extend to 10 dm with dense, intermixed internodal prickles and aciculi and lacking infrastipular prickles. Leaflets are relatively small and mostly 9–11; flowers are solitary and petals are white; inflorescences lack bracts; and hips are lustrous, blackish purple with erect, persistent sepals.

Using Rosa spinosissima as one parent, George Harison crossed R. ×foetida (Austrian brier rose) in his New York City garden in about 1830 to produce Harison's yellow rose, R. ×harisonii Rivers. This unique yellow flowering rose was planted widely as pioneers moved west across the plains where even today it has been found in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and other states.

Of a group of medicinal plants tested for antioxidant properties, Rosa spinosissima, with the largest amounts of phenolic compounds, proved to have the highest radical scavenging activity and provided the highest peroxidation inhibition (A. Mavi et al. 2004).

(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
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 90. FNA vol. 9, p. 94.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Roseae > Rosa > subg. Rosa > sect. Caninae Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Roseae > Rosa > subg. Rosa > sect. Pimpinellifoliae
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. 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. rubiginosa, R. rugosa, R. setigera, R. sherardii, R. spithamea, R. stellata, R. tomentosa, R. virginiana, R. woodsii
Subordinate taxa
R. rubiginosa var. nemoralis, R. rubiginosa var. rubiginosa
Synonyms R. illinoiensis, R. lutescens, R. pimpinellifolia
Name authority Linnaeus: Mant. Pl. 2: 564. (1771) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 491. (1753)
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