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Rosa rubiginosa
Also called Sweetbriar Rose, Sweetbriar, Eglantine, Sweetbrier, Briar Rose, Sweet Brier, Eglantine Rose
Sweet-briar is a dense, thorny deciduous shrub grown for its pink flowers, strongly apple-scented foliage and red hips that persist into winter. It thrives in full sun and cool, temperate conditions with little fuss.
Rosa rubiginosa (sweet briar, sweetbriar rose, sweet brier or eglantine; syn. R. eglanteria) is a species of rose native to Europe and western Asia.
In addition to its pink flowers, it is valued for its scent and the hips that form after the flowers and persist well into the winter.
During World War II, the British relied on rose hips and hops as presumed sources of vitamins A and C, leading to the British wartime expression: "We are getting by on our hips and hops."
Rosa rubiginosa is native to most of Europe with the exception of the extreme north (above 61°N), where it inhabits pastures and thorny bushes from the montane to the subalpine floor, with a sunny, continental climate. It is somewhat rare, with isolated specimens near roads and pastures frequented by cattle. Its presence is doubtful in western Asia. In Southern Europe it lives in higher altitudes, usually 1,000 to 1,700 m (3,300 to 5,600 ft). In Portugal it is classified as Critically Endangered and is restricted to the Serra da Estrela range.
Prickly rose · White rose of York · Prairie rose · Field-rose · Banksian Rose · Smooth rose · Macartney rose · California wildrose · Dog rose · Carolina rose · Chinese rose · Amur rose
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rosa rubiginosa 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.
