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Portrait of Japanese rose

Nature · Shrubs

Japanese rose

Neophyte · from east Asia · first wild record 1917 · to 2 m · flowers Jun–Oct · dunes, roadsides, hedges

Rosa rugosa — Rosaceae

Japanese rose, or rugosa rose, is the very prickly, wrinkle-leaved rose of municipal planting that has escaped onto sand dunes, roadsides and railway banks around Britain. Its big tomato-like hips float, and can be carried by the sea and by birds. Once established it suckers into dense thickets, and on dunes it can overwhelm the native plants.

How to spot them

  • ▸Upright, suckering shrub to about 2 m with very dense, bristly prickles and stems covered in fine hairs
  • ▸Deeply wrinkled (rugose), dark green leaflets, 5 to 9 per leaf, paler and hairy beneath
  • ▸Large, single, richly scented magenta-pink or white flowers, from June through autumn
  • ▸Big, round, tomato-like red hips, 2 to 3 cm across, often on the bush alongside flowers
  • ▸Look-alikes: dog rose has arching stems with hooked prickles, smooth leaves and small pink flowers; burnet rose has small black hips

How to know it

A rose with wrinkled leaflets, a dense coat of prickles and large tomato-like red hips that has colonised sand dunes and roadsides

Japanese rose — Rosa rugosa.

Its species name means 'wrinkled', from the surface of its leaves

Japanese rose — rugosa.

It was first recorded in the wild in Britain in 1917, at Monreith in Wigtownshire

Japanese rose.

Its hips float in salt water, and sea currents help to spread it around the Baltic

Japanese rose.

A suckering rose that forms extensive thickets, especially on coastal sand dunes, and grows on roadsides and railway banks

Japanese rose.

It is native to eastern Asia, and its return to cultivation in 1845 was followed by a real increase in its spread

Japanese rose.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Rosa rugosa, family Rosaceae; rugosa means wrinkled
  • •Native to eastern Asia; a neophyte in Great Britain and Ireland (BSBI)
  • •First recorded in the wild in Britain in 1917 at Monreith, Wigtownshire (BSBI)
  • •Grows on roadsides, railway banks, hedges, scrub, sand dunes, quarries and waste ground (BSBI)
  • •Strongly suckering; can form extensive thickets, particularly in coastal sand dunes (BSBI)
  • •Spreads by sea-dispersed fruits, particularly around the Baltic; birds are important long-distance vectors
  • •Genuine increase followed its reintroduction to cultivation in 1845 (BSBI)
  • •It is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, making it an offence to plant it or cause it to grow in the wild

Drill it — 6 cards

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Sources