Rosa setigera
Rosa spinosissima
climbing prairie rose, climbing rose, prairie rose
burnet rose, rosier pimprenelle, Scotch rose, Scots rose
erect to procumbent and vinelike, 10–20(–60) dm;
bark of canes green to light brown;
prickles infrastipular and internodal, single or paired, declined, usually curved, sometimes erect, stout, 3–4 × 7–9 mm, broad-based, sometimes mixed with aciculi, rarely absent.
deciduous, 8–12 cm;
stipules narrowly lanceolate, 12–15 × 0.5–3 mm, auricles flared, 3–4 mm, margins entire, sometimes fimbriate, stipitate-glandular, surfaces glabrous, sparsely glandular;
petiole and rachis with or without pricklets, usually pubescent, stipitate-glandular;
leaflets 3 (mostly younger stems)–5 (older stems), terminal: petiolule 10–16 mm, blade ovate to elliptic-ovate, (30–)48(–70) × (20–)27(–40) mm, membranous or leathery, base rounded or obtuse, margins 1(–2)-serrate, teeth (18–)35(–42) per side, coarse, gland-tipped, apex usually acuminate, abaxial surfaces pale green, glabrous or pubescent to tomentose, sometimes sessile- and/or stipitate-glandular, adaxial darker green, dull, 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.
(1–)6(–15+)-flowered.
15–25 mm, glabrous, stipitate-glandular;
bracts 1 or 2, narrowly lanceolate, 10–30 × 1–2 mm, margins short stipitate-glandular, surfaces glabrous, eglandular.
bracts absent.
functionally unisexual or monoecious, plants dioecious, 3–5 cm diam.;
hypanthium ovoid, 4–6 × 4–5 mm, stipitate-glandular;
sepals narrowly to broadly ovate-lanceolate, 10–18 × 2–4 mm, margins entire, tip 3–4 × 0.5–1 mm, abaxial surfaces pubescent, stipitate-glandular;
petals single, rose-purple to pink, fading to white, 18–25 × 16–25 mm;
stamens 212;
carpels 20–25, styles glabrous, exsert 5–6 mm beyond stylar orifice rims (0.5 mm diam.), hypanthial disc 2–3 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.
bright red, subglobose to globose, 6–10 × 6–9 mm, firm, sparsely stipitate-glandular often undeveloped because of dioecy, then early deciduous.
17–22, fawn, 4–5 × 2.5–3 mm.
8–12, dark tan, 4 × 2.5 mm.
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.
= 14.
= 28.
Rosa setigera
Rosa spinosissima
In the eastern United States Rosa setigera has been introduced from the Midwest or escaped from cultivation (W. H. Lewis 1959b). Based primarily on herbarium records, R. setigera is introduced in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia; other states (Alabama, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia) probably have both native and introduced populations.
Rosa setigera is the only native rose with procumbent or climbing stems to 60 dm with three leaflets on younger stems and five on older stems, and with unisexual flowers and caducous sepals.
Rosa setigera is the only species of sect. Systylae native to North America. The species is distinct from other members of the section in its flavonoid patterns, which show linkages to sect. Cinnamomeae [= sect. Rosa] (C. Grossi et al. 1998); it is also the only dioecious species of the genus. Microscopic floral characters are detailed elsewhere (W. H. Lewis 1959b; P. G. Kevan et al. 1990; J. R. Kemp et al. 1993, 1993b).
Since 1886, Rosa setigera has been used also as one parent in climbing hybrid cultivars produced in central Europe to increase hardiness and vigorous growth.
(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.)
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