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Rosa chinensis
Also called China Rose, Bengal Rose
Rosa chinensis, the China rose, is a shrub native to southwest China, grown for its repeat-blooming flowers and used to breed many modern garden roses. Key to growing it is full sun and good drainage, though the wild species itself is less showy than its cultivars.
Rosa chinensis (Chinese: 月季; pinyin: yuèjì), known commonly as the China rose, Chinese rose, or Bengal rose, is a member of the genus Rosa native to Southwest China in Guizhou, Hubei, and Sichuan Provinces. The first publication of Rosa chinensis was in 1768 by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin in Observationum Botanicarum, 3, p. 7 & plate 55.
Various forms of Rosa chinensis have been cultivated in gardens in China for a long time; therefore, it is not easy to distinguish between wild forms and cultivated forms. Many varieties of garden roses have been bred from Rosa chinensis. The species is extensively cultivated as an ornamental plant, and numerous cultivars have been selected, which are known as the China roses. It has also been extensively interbred with Rosa gigantea to produce Rosa × odorata and by further hybridization the tea roses and hybrid tea roses, and is the source of summer-blooming varieties and those with continuous flowering.
Cultivars developed from Rosa chinensis have been important in the breeding of many modern garden roses by providing the repeat-blooming characteristic, although this is not a feature of the wild species. The many forms of Rosa chinensis are also used in many other ways. The young vegetative plant parts, flower buds and flowers are brewed and eaten as a kitchen herb, for example, as a soup. From the rosehips, a thin fleshy layer that surrounds the seeds is eaten raw or cooked. The seed hair must be removed; it has to be handled very carefully. The seed hairs must not get into the mouth and throat. The seeds are a good source of vitamin E. The seeds can be ground and mixed with flour or added to other foods.
Prickly rose · White rose of York · Prairie rose · Field-rose · Banksian Rose · Smooth rose · Macartney rose · California wildrose · Dog rose · Carolina rose · Amur rose · Rosa ecae
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rosa chinensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
