Rosa rubiginosa
Common name: 
Sweetbriar Rose
Eglantine Rose
Pronunciation: 
RO-za roo-bij-ih-NO-suh
Family: 
Rosaceae
Genus: 
Synonyms: 
Rosa eglanteria
Rosa rubiginosa var. rubiginosa
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
Yes
  • Deciduous shrub, erect, to 8 ft (2.4 m), dense, much-branched, stems armed with large oval-based, recurved prickles ("thorns").  Leaves alternate, compound, 5-9 leaflets, each 1-3 cm long, ovate to rounded, margins doubly serrate, dark green and usually hairless above, downy below, aromatic, a sweet green apple or cider odor when bruised, especially in damp weather; paired stipules sharply pointed, about 1.3 cm long, margins finely serrate; rachis and petioles glandular-pubescent.   Flowers mostly pink, sometimes white, 4 cm across, borne singly or 2-4 per cluster.   Fruit (hip) orange to scarlet, ovoid to elliptical, smooth, 13-20 mm long, calyx persistent.
  • Sun to light shade.  Moist soils.  May be used as hedge or screen, can be held to 4 ft (1.2 m) by annual pruning.  Sometimes planted for its aromatic foliage.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 4      Native to Europe, North Africa, to western Asia.  Considered an invasive species or a weed in several countries in the Southern Hemisphere.  Often planted in North America, it has frequently escaped from cultivation and in the Pacific West it is found from British Columbia south on the west side of the Cascades into northern California, often naturalized along roadsides and in pastures.
  • rubiginosa: Latin, rusty, rust covered.  eglanteria: from Old French aiglantine, prickly.
  • Oregon State Univ. campus: south of Peavy, near walk north of Drydan.
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit, flowering

    plant habit, flowering

  • plant habit, flowering

    plant habit, flowering

  • pink flower and leaf

    pink flower and leaf

  • white flowers

    white flowers

  • leaf

    leaf

  • fruit and leaves

    fruit and leaves

  • stems and prickles ("thorns")

    stems and prickles ("thorns")

  • fruit cluster, fall

    fruit cluster, fall