ROSA CANINA

Family and Genus:- See- ROSACEAE/Sect. CANINAE/R. CANINA Group

Common Names:- Dog rose

Homotypic Synonyms:- Rosa corymbifera, Rosa dumetorum, Rosa nitidula.

Meaning:- Rosa (L) Latin name for various roses.

Canina (L) Of the dog, sharpe-toothed or spined.

General description:- Erect shrub usually 1-3 m tall.

Prickles:-

1) Uniform, rather stout, ± curved, compressed with a dilated base.

Stems:-

1) Reaching up to 3 m. flowering, rarely unarmed.

Leaves:-

1) Consisting of up of 5-7 leaflets, 15-40 x 12-20 mm, ovate, obovate or elliptical,

serrate or compound-serrate, glabrous and eglandular, glaucous, dark green,

shining or dull above

2) Petiole and rhachis, often with acicles.

Flowers:-

1) Usually in small clusters.

2) Pedicels, 10-20 mm, as long as or longer than the fruit, glabrous.

3) Sepals, lobed, eglandular or sparsely glandular-ciliate, deflexed after anthesis,

usually deciduous before fruit ripens.

4) Petals, 15-25(-30) mm, pink to white.

5) Hypanthium, variable in shape, smooth or rarely glandular-stipitate, red when

mature, orifice wide.

6) Stigmas, exserted, forming a loose head.

a) styles, usually not long-exserted, villous to glabrous.

Fruit:- 10-20 mm, globose, ovoid or ellipsoid, smooth, glabrous, red.

Key features:-

1) Disc wide, the orifice not more than 1 mm diam.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Margins of woodland, orchards, roads and fields. 0-1100(-1600) m.

Distribution:- Common throughout mainland Greece. - Most of Europe and through

Anatolia to Caucasus and C Asia. Somewhat limited distribution on Crete mainly

around the three main massifs

Flowering time:- May to early June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton