Dog Rose (Rosa canina) Linn
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Division: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Rosales
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Family: Rosaceae
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Subfamily: Rosoideae
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Genus: Rosa
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Species: R. canina
Rosa canina (Dog Rose) is a variable scrambling rose species native to Europe, including Britain, northwest Africa and western Asia. The plant grows well in light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil but can grow in heavy clay soil. The plant to;erates acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist or wet soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure. Habitats hedges, scrub, woods, roadsides, banks etc. The wild plant is planted as a nurse or cover crop, or stabilising plant in land reclamation and specialised landscaping schemes.
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​The dog rose was the stylized rose of Medieval European heraldry, and is still used today [permision needed]. In the time of Henry VIII, Dog Roses were the symbol of the monarchy.
This is the common rose of English hedgerows in summer. It is a deciduous shrub normally ranging in height from 1-5 m at a fast rate with strong arching branches, though sometimes it can scramble higher into the crowns of taller trees. The long arching stems are green to purple, browning with age and are covered with sharp, strong, hooked spines on a base 15 mm long with the points angled downwards, which aid it in climbing. They are used to catch onto surrounding shrubs. It spreads by suckers into woodland margins, scrub and hedgerows. It is a useful hedge shrub and can help to form an almost impenetrable stock barrier. A very polymorphic species, it is divided into a great number of closely related species by some botanists.
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The dark green to blue-green, alternate leaves are pinnate, with 5-7 leaflets 15-40 mm long, which have single or double-toothed saw-edges, and are usually hairless on both surfaces. Large, leafy stipules which run up the leaf stalks, are about 2 cm long. The leaves, when bruised, have a delicious fragrance
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The flowers are also fragrant. They are usually pale pink, but can vary between a deep pink and white. The bowl-shaped, 5-petalled flowers are 4-6 cm across and in clusters of 1-5. The styles in the centre of the flower are not joined together into a persistent, slender column. The flowers are hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, beetles, Lepidoptera (Moths & Butterflies), Apomictic (reproduce by seeds formed without sexual fusion). The plant is self-fertile. It is noted for attracting wildlife. They open in June and July and mature into an oval 1.5-2 cm red-orange fruit, or hip in autumn.
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The dog-rose produces conspicuous scarlet hips in autumn, sometimes known as dragon's eyes. These are edible and high in vitamin C, and they are often used to make syrup, jellies and other preserves as well as in the treatment of bladder and kidney disorders.
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Known Hazards There is a layer of hairs around the seeds just beneath the flesh of the fruit. These hairs can cause irritation to the mouth and digestive tract if ingested.
It has been said that any plant given the name 'dog' was christened so because it meant that it did not smell or was inferior to other plants. It was also believed that the root was effective against the bite of a mad dog.
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. Fruit - raw or cooked. It can be used in making delicious jams, syrups etc. The syrup is used as a nutritional supplement, especially for babies. The fruit can also be dried and used as a tea. Frost softens and sweetens the flesh. The fruit is up to 30mm in diameter, but there is only a thin layer of flesh surrounding the many seeds. Some care has to be taken when eating this fruit, see the notes above on known hazards. The seed is a good source of vitamin E, it can be ground and mixed with flour or added to other foods as a supplement. Be sure to remove the seed hairs. The dried leaves are used as a tea substitute. A coffee substitute according to another report. Petals - raw or cooked. The base of the petal may be bitter so is best removed. Eaten as a vegetable in China. The petals are also used to make an unusual scented jam. The hips are used as a flavouring in the Slovenian soft drink Cockta. Astringent; Bach; Cancer; Carminative; Diuretic; Laxative; Ophthalmic; Tonic; Vermifuge.
The petals, hips and galls are astringent, carminative, diuretic, laxative, ophthalmic and tonic. The hips are taken internally in the treatment of colds, influenza, minor infectious diseases, scurvy, diarrhoea and gastritis. A syrup made from the hips is used as a pleasant flavouring in medicines and is added to cough mixtures. A distilled water made from the plant is slightly astringent and is used as a lotion for delicate skins. The seeds have been used as a vermifuge. The plant is used in Bach flower remedies - the keywords for prescribing it are 'Resignation' and 'Apathy'. The fruit of many members of this genus is a very rich source of vitamins and minerals, especially in vitamins A, C and E, flavanoids and other bio-active compounds. It is also a fairly good source of essential fatty acids, which is fairly unusual for a fruit. It is being investigated as a food that is capable of reducing the incidence of cancer and also as a means of halting or reversing the growth of cancers.
Forms of this plant are sometimes used as stocks for the grafting or budding of cultivated varieties. Numerous cultivars have been named, though few are common in cultivation. The cultivar Rosa canina 'Assisiensis' is the only dog rose without thorns.
Other similar species include:
Rosa rubiginosa (Sweet briar or Eglantine Rose; syn. R. eglanteria)
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This is a species of rose native to Europe and western Asia, from France and the British Isles north to southern Scandinavia and east to western Russia and Turkey.
Habitat: Hedge, Woodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade, Open copses and old hedgerows. Usually found on calcareous soils, it is one of the first shrubs to colonize chalk grassland.
It is a dense deciduous shrub 2-3 m high and across, with the stems bearing numerous hooked thorns. The leaves are pinnate, 5-9 cm long, with 5-9 rounded to oval leaflets with a serrated margin, and numerous glandular hairs and the foliage has a strong apple-like fragrance. It is in flower from June to July and the flowers are 1.8-3 cm diameter, the five petals are pink with a white base, and with numerous yellow stamens; the flowers are produced in clusters of 2-7 together, from late spring to mid summer. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies and Lepidoptera (Moths & Butterflies). The plant is self-fertile. The fruit is a globose to oblong red hip 1-2 cm diameter and the seeds ripen from August to October. There is a layer of hairs around the seeds just beneath the flesh of the fruit. These hairs can cause irritation to the mouth and digestive tract if ingested.
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The name 'eglantine' derives from Latin aculeatus (thorny), by way of old French aiglant. 'Sweet' refers to the apple fragrance of the foliage, while 'briar' (also sometimes 'brier') is an old Anglo-Saxon word for any thorny shrub.
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Rosa dumalis (Glaucous Dog Rose)
This is a species of rose native to Europe and southwest Asia. Not all authorities accept it as distinct, with the Flora Europaea treating it as a synonym of Rosa canina.
It is a shrub that grows 1-2 m high. It has long, bent thorns. It bears dark or light pink flowers in June and July. The hips are oval and quite soft. It may be confused with R. canina, but when flowering they are easy to tell apart since R. canina has white or light pink flowers.
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Rosa glauca (Red-leaved Rose or Redleaf Rose; syn. R. rubrifolia)
This is a species of rose native to the mountains of central and southern Europe, from Spanish Pyrenees east to Bulgaria and north to Germany and Poland. This rose was not widely grown in gardens until the end of the 19th century, since then the species has become naturalised in northern Europe north of its native range, particularly in Scandinavia.
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It is a deciduous arching shrub of sparsely bristled and thorny cinnamon-coloured arching canes 1.5-3 m tall. The most distinctive feature is its leaves, which are glaucous blue-green to coppery or purplish, and covered with a waxy bloom; they are 5-10 cm long and have 5-9 leaflets. The fragile, clear pink flowers are 2.5-4 cm diameter, and are produced in clusters of two to five. The fruit is a dark red globose hip 10-15 mm diameter.
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A hybrid with Rosa rugosa has been given the cultivar name 'Carmenetta'.
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Inter-species relationships associated with Rosa canina
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The fruit attracts, and is eaten by many species of birds and small mammals such as bank voles. It also may contain the larvae of Rhagoletis alternata, a gall fly (Diptera; Tephritidae).
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Several wasps, most notably a gall forming wasp Diplolepis rosae, which produces balls of crimson 'moss' called Robin's pin-cushions (right) on the leaf stalks and another Diplolepis nervosa, which creates pink to red coloured balls on the underside of the leaves (middle right). Other insects use the plant as a host. Dog Rose is the food plant of the caterpillars of the following moths - V-Pug, Little Thorn, Shoulder Stripe, Barred Yellow and Streamer.
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Other common gall forming species include, a small black sawfly Blennocampa phyllocolpa whose larvae gall the leaves, causing both sides of the leaf to roll down towards the main vein (bottom right). These leaves then form loose tubes which are often spirally twisted and if opened out these may contain the green sawfly larvae. Also the rose leaf midge Wachtliella rosarum can be seen from its tell tale folding of the leaves accompanied by a red swelling as seen below.
Field Rose (Rosa arvensis) Linn
Vigorous, deciduous scrambler with white to cream flowers which have golden anthers. The flowers are usually in small bunches of 3 or 4 at the end of the twigs. Blooms later than the Dog Rose and for longer. Also the leaves are smaller than those of the Dog Rose, the prickles are also smaller and the flowers less fragrant. Another difference is that the hips are more globular.
Widespread and common in Southern England, Wales and Ireland but more scarce in the North. Field-rose is a deciduous shrub, up to 2 m in height which spreads by suckering and putting out slender arching stems into woodland and woodland margins. It also grows along hedges on neutral, lime-rich and heavy clay soils. The long scrambling stems are often purple-tinged, which intertwine and form an almost impenetrable mass and carry slender, only slightly curved, thorns on a base about 5 mm long.
The compound, pinnate, alternate leaves have 5-7 oval leaflets, 10-35 mm long which have saw-edged marginal teeth and are often hairy on the main vein beneath. Large, leafy stipules which run up the leaf stalks, are about 10 mm long.
The white to pink, 5-petalled flowers are 3-5 cm across, and appear in clusters of 1-6 and open in June and July. The styles in the centre of the flower are joined together into a slender column, which persists on the small, red hip. Needs to be in sun to fruit.
Feeding and other inter-species relationships Associated with Rosa arvensis:
fruit may contain larva Rhagoletis alternata - a gall fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) White, I.M., 1988
leaf is grazed by larva Endelomyia aethiops - a sawfly (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) Benson, R.B., 1952 [skeletonises the leaf]
leaflets may be attacked by gall midges, which fold them upwards, so that the paler underside is visible.
Caterpillars of the Small Quaker Moth feed on the leaflets.
The hips are a favourite food of birds in winter.
