Hooked prickles grip the hedge as the arching stems scramble upward; flowers pink or white with free styles, followed by scarlet oval hips
Dog rose.
Nature · Shrubs
Dog rose
Native · flowers May–Aug · hedgerows, woodland edge and scrub
Rosa canina — Rosaceae
The commonest wild rose of British hedges: an arching, hooked-thorned climber with large pink or white flowers in early summer and glossy scarlet hips in autumn. Its hips, rich in vitamin C, were gathered in the Second World War for syrup, and its name reflects an old belief that the root cured the bite of a mad dog.
How to spot them
- ▸Strong, hooked (curved) prickles that grip other shrubs as the arching stems scramble up to about 3 m
- ▸Large, flat, five-petalled flowers, pale pink to white, with many stamens and a faint sweet scent; the styles are free, not joined in a column
- ▸Leaves in 2–3 pairs of toothed leaflets plus one at the tip, hairless; sometimes carrying a red fibrous 'robin's pincushion' gall
- ▸Sepals folded back after flowering and falling before the oval red hips (15–20 mm) ripen in September–October
- ▸Separate it from field rose (styles fused in a column, trailing, white flowers), sweet briar (apple-scented glands, sepals persist) and burnet rose (low, very prickly, black hips)
How to know it
A ball of red fibrous threads, caused by a gall wasp, is sometimes seen on this hedgerow shrub and called robin's pincushion
Dog rose — the gall wasp is Diplolepis rosae.
Hips of this hedge plant were gathered in the Second World War for a vitamin C syrup when citrus fruit was scarce
Dog rose.
The hairs inside its hips are an irritant used to make itching powder
Dog rose (Woodland Trust).
The root was thought to cure the bite of a wild dog, giving the plant its name
Dog rose (Rosa canina — 'of the dog').
Sepals folded back after flowering and shed before the hips redden, distinguishing it from a persistent-sepalled, apple-scented relative
Dog rose versus sweet briar.
A common symbol in medieval heraldry, but linked in Germany to the Devil
Dog rose (Woodland Trust).
Quick-fire facts
- •Rosa canina, family Rosaceae; canina means 'of the dog'. Woodland Trust: the root was thought to cure a wild dog's bite
- •Other names: dog berry and witches' briar
- •SEPARATING THE WILD ROSES: dog rose has free styles and reflexed sepals; field rose (R. arvensis) has styles fused in a long column; sweet briar (R. rubiginosa) has sticky apple-scented glands and persistent sepals; burnet rose (R. pimpinellifolia) is low and dense-prickled with black hips (BSBI key)
- •EDIBLE: the hips are high in vitamin C and traditionally made into syrup; rose-hip oil is used in skincare. The hairs inside are irritant and must be strained out
- •Familiar hedgerow edibles include dog rose hips, hazelnuts, bramble fruit and elder
- •Robin's pincushion (bedeguar) galls are caused by the gall wasp Diplolepis rosae
- •Flowers are a nectar source for insects; hips feed blackbirds, redwings and waxwings
- •Flowers May–August; hips ripen September–October (Woodland Trust); commoner in the south and in heavy soils
- •A regular species in old mixed hedges, so counted when applying Hooper's rule
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Dog rose (Rosa canina)
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Rosa, Roses (plant crib)