E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Rosa multiflora Thunb.
Rambler rose (multiflora rose)
Rosaceae (Rose family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Brian Klinkenberg  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #86466)

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Distribution of Rosa multiflora
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Species Information

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General:
Low to medium scrambling or climbing shrub, up to 5 m tall/long; stems slender, erect to arching, usually covered with numerous straight, paired, bristly prickles; twigs of the current year often smooth; mature stems reddish- to greyish-brown.
Leaves:
Alternate, deciduous, odd-pinnately compound, the axis densely hairy and glandular; leaflets commonly 7 to 9, elliptic to egg-shaped, rounded to merely pointed, 2-5 cm long, coarsely toothed to double-toothed, the teeth often gland-tipped, more or less rounded at the base, usually somewhat hairy on the underside; stipules conspicuously fringed or comb-like and often glandular.
Flowers:
Inflorescence many-flowered, the flowers 20-100; corollas white, saucer-shaped, the petals 1-2 cm long; calyces 5-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, persistent, becoming reflexed in fruit; ovaries superior but enclosed in the urn-shaped floral tube (hypanthium); stamens numerous.
Fruits:
Achenes, stiffly long-hairy on one side or towards the tip, enclosed by the fleshy hypanthium which ripens into a scarlet to purplish, globe- to pear-shaped or ellipsoid hip 0.5-2 cm long/wide.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Mesic slopes in the lowland zone; rare in SW BC, known only from Sapperton Island; introduced from E Asia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Rosa cathayensis (Rehder & Wilson) L.H. Bailey
Rosa watsoniana Crép.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References