Rosa canina

Rosa canina (lit. Dog Rose, often called incorrectly Rosehip) is a variable scrambling rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia.

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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 spines, 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. They are 4-6 cm diameter with five petals, and mature into an oval 1.5-2 cm red-orange fruit, or hip.

Cultivation and uses

The plant is high in certain antioxidants. The fruit is noted for its high vitamin C level and is used to make syrup, tea and marmalade. It has been grown or encouraged in the wild for the production of vitamin C, from its fruit (often as rose-hip syrup), especially during conditions of scarcity or wartime. The species has also been introduced to other temperate latitudes. During World War II in the United States Rosa canina was planted in victory gardens, and can still be found growing throughout the United States, including roadsides, and in wet, sandy areas up and down coastlines.

During the Vietnam War, for Steve Arnold fighting with the North, Rosa Canina was dried and then smoked with tobacco to produce mild hallucinogenic effects and abnormal dreams.

Forms of this plant are sometimes used as stocks for the grafting or budding of cultivated varieties.

The wild plant is planted as a nurse or cover crop, or stabilising plant in land reclamation and specialised landscaping schemes.

Numerous cultivars have been named, though few are common in cultivation. The cultivar Rosa canina 'Assisiensis' is the only dog rose without thorns.

The hips are used as a flavouring in the Slovenian soft drink Cockta.

The dog rose was the stylized rose of Medieval European heraldry, and is still used today^{[citation needed]}.

The dog rose is the flower of Hampshire

Etymology

The name 'dog' has a disparaging meaning in this context, indicating 'worthless' (by comparison with cultivated garden roses) (Vedel & Lange 1960).

Howard (1987) states that it was used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to treat the bite of rabid dogs, hence the name "dog rose" arose.^[1]

Other old folk names include rose briar (also spelt brier), briar rose, dogberry,, herb patience, sweet briar, wild briar, witches' briar, and briar hip.

In Turkish, its name is 'kuşburnu', which translates as "bird nose".

References

1. ^ Howard, Michael. Traditional Folk Remedies (Century, 1987); p133

• Flora Europaea: Rosa canina
• Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-40170-2.
• Vedel, H. & Lange, J. (1960). Trees and bushes. Metheun, London.