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

rosier de virginie, Virginia rose

Habit Shrubs, erect; not rhizomatous. Shrubs, forming dense thickets and hedge clusters.
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 to ascending, (2–)10–30 dm, densely branched;

bark red to purplish red, glabrous;

infrastipular prickles paired or single, usually curved, sometimes erect, or declined, appressed, stout, 6–10 × 4–10 mm, base glabrous, internodal prickles or aciculi rare, smaller, sometimes absent.

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.

5–8(–11) cm;

stipules 14–25 × 4–9 mm, auricles flared, 3–5 mm, margins undulate, irregularly glandular-serrate, surfaces glabrous, eglandular;

petiole and rachis sometimes with pricklets and aciculi, glabrous, puberulent, or sparsely pubescent, stipitate-glandular;

leaflets 5–7(–9), terminal: petiolule 6–14 mm, blade narrowly elliptic to ovate, 17–32 × 6–16 mm, membranous, base cuneate, margins 1–2-serrate, teeth 10–18(–23) per side, gland-tipped or eglandular, apex acute, sometimes obtuse, abaxial surfaces pale green, glabrous or pubescent, eglandular, adaxial deep green, turning purplish red in fall, lustrous, glabrous.

Inflorescences

panicles, 1–3(–7)-flowered.

corymbs, 1–6(–15)-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.

erect, slender to stout, 7–14(–25) mm, glabrous, sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular;

bracts 2, broadly lanceolate, 16–25 × 4–6 mm, margins entire, sometimes serrate, gland-tipped, surfaces glabrous with few hairs, 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.).

4.3–5.5 cm diam.;

hypanthium subglobose or depressed-globose, sometimes globose, 3.5–5.5 × 5.5–6.5 mm, glabrous, stipitate-glandular, neck absent;

sepals spreading or reflexed, lanceolate, 20–40 × 2.5–4 mm, tip 6–12 × 0.5–2 mm, margins usually pinnatifid, rarely entire, inner 2 usually entire, abaxial surfaces glabrous, densely stipitate- or setose-glandular;

petals single, pink to deep rose, rarely white, 22–26 × 25–30 mm;

stamens 140;

carpels 26–40(–65), styles exsert 1–2.5 mm beyond stylar orifice (1.5–3 mm diam.) of hypanthial disc (3–5 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 red or red-black, globose to depressed-globose, 8–12 × 9–13 mm, fleshy, glabrous, stipitate-glandular, neck absent;

sepals deciduous, erect.

Achenes

15–25, tan, 3.5–4(–5) × 2–2.5(–3) mm.

mostly basal, fewer basiparietal, 8–14, tan, 3–4 × 1.5–3.5 mm.

2n

= 35, 42.

= 28.

Rosa rubiginosa

Rosa virginiana

Phenology Flowering Jun–early Aug.
Habitat Grasslands, woods, cliffs, maritime heathlands and grasslands, ditches, old fields, edges of wet spruce woods, rocky ledges, damp thickets, swamps, streams, shores
Elevation 0–200 m (0–700 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; DC; DE; MA; MD; ME; MI; NH; NJ; NY; PA; RI; VA; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM [Introduced in Europe (Austria, France, Great Britain)]
[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.)

Rosa virginiana is primarily coastal from Newfoundland to New Jersey. Distribution extends inland along estuaries and streams for relatively short distances or, rarely, outlying populations as in central New York (glacial lakes of Green Lakes State Park). Some collections from the District of Columbia and adjacent Virginia are R. carolina × R. virginiana, indicating that at one time, the hybrid and both parents existed in the region.

Disjunct introductions of Rosa virginiana are found along railroads, highways, and ports. The species is introduced in Ontario, eastern Michigan, and Virginia.

Rosa virginiana Miller was conserved over R. virginiana Herrmann in 2011 (W. H. Lewis 2008b).

Shrubs of Rosa virginiana form thickets and hedge clusters having erect, stout stems that densely branch, and in Newfoundland reach to six feet tall. These are armed with stout and relatively long infrastipular prickles, erect or curved and broad-based. Leaflets are lustrous adaxially, stipule widths are 4–9 mm, and sepal lengths are 20–40 mm; these traits differentiate R. virginiana from the closely allied R. carolina.

The majority of plants determined as Rosa virginiana from the Allegheny and Appalachian mountains (for example, in West Virginia) and from the Midwest (for example, Indiana) are R. carolina subsp. subserrulata. In the eastern United States, putative hybrids and their introgressants with R. carolina subsp. carolina occur from Massachusetts to New Jersey and, rarely, south or north of these states. These are the nothospecies R. ×novae-angliae W. H. Lewis.

(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. 100.
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. 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. spinosissima, R. spithamea, R. stellata, R. tomentosa, R. woodsii
Subordinate taxa
R. rubiginosa var. nemoralis, R. rubiginosa var. rubiginosa
Synonyms R. lucida, R. lucida var. lamprophylla, R. nanella
Name authority Linnaeus: Mant. Pl. 2: 564. (1771) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Rosa no. 10. (1768)
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