ROSA SEMPERVIRENS

Family and Genus:- See- ROSACEAE/Sect. SYNSTYLAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

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

Sempervirens (L) Evergreen, always green.

General description:- Evergreen, with long, creeping stems.

Stems:-

1) Scrambling, up to 5(1-0) m.

Prickles:-

1) Sparse, and irregularly set, rather, strong, somewhat curved.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, (3-)5-7, 30-60 x 10-20 mm, coriaceous, elliptical to broadly lanceolate,

glabrous on both surfaces, shining above, paler beneath, acuminate, serrate

2) Stipules, narrow.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, usually 3-10 in loose corymbs.

2) Pedicels, hispid, glandular-stipitate, 2-4 times as long as the fruit.

3) Sepals, ovate with a conspicuous point, entire, deflexed after flowering, early

caducous.

4) Petals, 10-20(-30) mm, white.

5) Styles, connate in a long column, distinctly pubescent.

6) Hypanthium, small, globose, smooth or glandular-stipitate, red when mature.

Fruit:-

1) 10 mm, globose or broadly ovoid, red.

Key features:-

1) Inflorescence, usually 3-10 in loose corymbs.

2) Styles, connate in a long column, distinctly pubescent.

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Habitat:- Constituent of scrubland vegetation, mixed scrub and roadside thickets,

often in gorges or between olive groves. 0-500(-900) m.

Distribution:- Common in west Greece, ± lacking in the interior north. -

Widespread in the Mediterranean region, eastwards at least to NW Anatolia.

Limited occurrence on Crete mainly CW around the Psiloritis region

Flowering time:- Late Apr to mid-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis