Rosa canina

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

This is the plant information box - for information on light; water; zones; height; etc. If it is mostly empty you can help grow this page by clicking on the edit tab and filling in the blanks!"This is the plant information box - for information on light; water; zones; height; etc. If it is mostly empty you can help grow this page by clicking on the edit tab and filling in the blanks!" is not in the list (If this plant info box on watering; zones; height; etc. is mostly empty you can click on the edit tab and fill in the blanks!) of allowed values for the "Jump in" property.

Read about Rosa canina in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Rosa canina, Linn. Dop Rose. Upright shrub, attaining 10 ft. or more, with often recurving branches: prickles stout, hooked: lfts. 5-7, oval or elliptic, doubly serrate, glabrous or slightly pubescent or somewhat glandular beneath, 3/4 -1 1/2 in. long: fls. 1-3, light pink, on usually glabrous pedicels; sepals reflexed, caducous: fr. ovate, orange-reef, or scarlet, glabrous. June. Eu., N. Afr., W. Asia; naturalized in some localities. W.R. 126. B.B. (ed. 2) 2:284.—Much used as stock for grafting. Var. exilis, Keller (R. exilis, Crepin). Low form with small lfts. about J^in. long, and small pink fls. about 1 in. across. W.R. 127. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

? Rosa canina
Dog Rose in flower
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Rosaceae Subfamily: Rosoideae Genus: Rosa Species: R. canina
Binomial name
Rosa canina L.

Rosa canina (lit. Dog Rose, often called incorrectly Rosehip) is a variable scrambling rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia.

It is a deciduous shrub normally ranging in height from 1-5 m, though sometimes it can scramble higher into the crowns of taller trees. Its stems are covered with small, sharp, hooked spines, which aid it in climbing. The leaves are pinnate, with 5-7 leaflets. The flowers are usually pale pink, but can vary between a deep pink and white. They are 4-6 cm diameter with five petals, and mature into an oval 1.5-2 cm red-orange fruit, or hip.

Cultivation and uses

The plant is high in certain antioxidants. The fruit is noted for its high vitamin C level and is used to make syrup, tea and marmalade. It has been grown or encouraged in the wild for the production of vitamin C, from its fruit (often as rose-hip syrup), especially during conditions of scarcity or wartime. The species has also been introduced to other temperate latitudes. During World War II in the United States Rosa canina was planted in victory gardens, and can still be found growing throughout the United States, including roadsides, and in wet, sandy areas up and down coastlines.

During the Vietnam War, for Steve Arnold fighting with the North, Rosa Canina was dried and then smoked with tobacco to produce mild hallucinogenic effects and abnormal dreams.

Forms of this plant are sometimes used as stocks for the grafting or budding of cultivated varieties.

The wild plant is planted as a nurse or cover crop, or stabilising plant in land reclamation and specialised landscaping schemes.

Numerous cultivars have been named, though few are common in cultivation. The cultivar Rosa canina 'Assisiensis' is the only dog rose without thorns.

The hips are used as a flavouring in the Slovenian soft drink Cockta.

The dog rose was the stylized rose of Medieval European heraldry, and is still used today Template:Fact.

The dog rose is the flower of Hampshire

Etymology

The name 'dog' has a disparaging meaning in this context, indicating 'worthless' (by comparison with cultivated garden roses) (Vedel & Lange 1960).

Howard (1987) states that it was used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to treat the bite of rabid dogs, hence the name "dog rose" arose.

Other old folk names include rose briar (also spelt brier), briar rose, dogberry,, herb patience, sweet briar, wild briar, witches' briar, and briar hip.

References

• Flora Europaea: Rosa canina
• Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-40170-2.
• Vedel, H. & Lange, J. (1960). Trees and bushes. Metheun, London.

• 

  Leaf with stipules

• 

  Flowers

• 

  Hips

• 

  Hips