More wild roses

Right after the eglantine rose (here) in the Art of Instruction cards came the dog rose:

(#1)

Rosa canina (commonly known as the dog rose) is a variable climbing wild rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia.

It is a deciduous shrub normally ranging in height from 1–5 m, though sometimes it can scramble higher into the crowns of taller trees. Its stems are covered with small, sharp, hooked prickles, which aid it in climbing. The leaves are pinnate, with 5-7 leaflets. The flowers are usually pale pink, but can vary between a deep pink and white.

… The dog rose was the stylized rose of medieval European heraldry, and is still used today. (Wikipedia link)

Yet another wild rose:

(#2)

Rosa carolina, commonly known as the Carolina rose, pasture rose, or low rose, is a shrub in the rose family native to eastern North America, where it can be found in nearly all US states and Canadian provinces east of the Great Plains.

It is common throughout its range and can be found in a wide variety of open habitats, from thickets and open woods to roadsides and along railroads.

The stems have straight, needle-like thorns, which distinguishes it from very similar species such as R. palustris and R. virginiana, which have curved thorns. The fragrant flowers emerge in early summer and are light pink in color. (Wikipedia link)

To the untrained, these many wild roses are hard to distinguish. Pretty single flowers in the pink range, fragrant, and prickly/thorny.

[Added 9/9/14, after I posted “I never promised you a rose garden”. From Chris Waigl (in Fairbanks AK) on Facebook:

Here’s one for your collection that is local to me: Rosa acicularis, the prickly rose, the only wild rose that survives in interior Alaska. (Though some cultivated forms of Rosa rugosa also do, and are a little less stroppy.) I can’t help liking it even though it spreads like fireweed, pricks through gloves, invades vegetable beds, and flowers for barely a few weeks.

(#3) ]

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