[The Rose Family in the Columbia River Gorge]

The Wild Roses of the Columbia River Gorge

The Genus Rosa

 


Unidentified (Heirloom?) Rose - An attractive rose from the garden of an old ranch house in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. Can you help give a name to this rose?

Dog Rose: Rosa canina - Shrub similar to sweetbriar but not glandular. Prickles hooked or curved. Leaflets more pointed than those of sweetbriar and with sharply serrate margins.

Sweetbrier: Rosa eglanteria (Synonym: Rosa rubiginosa) - Shrub to 12 feet. Flowers large (quarter-sized) with notched tips. Leaves pinnately compound with small serrations. Stems covered with small thorns.

Baldhip Rose, Dwarf Rose, Little Wild Rose: Rosa gymnocarpa (Synonyms: Rosa dasypoda, Rosa gymnocarpa var. gymnocarpa, Rosa helleri, Rosa leucopsis, Rosa prionota) - Shrub to 4 feet tall. Small (quarter sized) pink flowers with 5 petals. Stems armed with many small stickers. Leaves pinnately compound.

Multiflora Rose, Rambler Rose: Rosa multiflora -

Bristly Nootka Rose, Nootka Rose: Rosa nutkana var. hispida (Synonym: Rosa spaldingii var. alta) - Shrub to 6 feet tall. Inflorescence of 1-3 large pink flowers with 5 wide petals, the flower being 50-75 mm across. Very fragrant. Stems armed with numerous stickers. Leaves compound pinnate.

Nootka Rose: Rosa nutkana var. nutkana (Synonym: Rosa durandii) -

Clustered Rose, Clustered Wild Rose, Peafrutit Rose: Rosa pisocarpa (Synonyms: Rosa anacantha, Rosa pisocarpa var. rivalis, Rosa pringlei, Rosa rivalis) - Shrub from 1-2 meters high armed with straight, thin prickles, or sometimes unarmed. Leaflets 5-7 (leaf is pinnately compound), each is 1-8 cm long oblong to ovate in shape and with toothed margins. Flower is 20-30 mm across.

Pearhip Rose, Wood's Rose: Rosa woodsii var. ultramontana (Synonyms: Rosa covillei, Rosa macounii) - Shrub up to 2 meters high. Prickles straight or curved. Leaves pinnately compound with 5-9 leaflets. Leaflets obovate in shape, acute at base and acute to rounded at the tip. Margins either single- or double-toothed. Flowers 1-5 in a terminal cluster, each 30-45 mm across. Sepals 9-15 mm long.


Paul Slichter E-mail