Sweetbriar is an attractive shrub from 1-2 meters high with numerous, sweet-smelling flowers. The stems have well-developed, flattened, unequal, strongly curved or hooked prickles. The foliage is sweetly aromatic, with alternate leaves on the stems. The leaves are pinnately compound with 5-7 leaflets. Individual leaflets are broadly elliptic to suborbicular and range from 1-2.5 cm long. The margins are double-toothed with glands at the tips of each tooth.
The flowers are in small cymes or may occasionally be solitary. The 5 bright pink petals are 1.5-2 cm long. The fruit is ovoid, 1-1.5 cm long, bright red and usually lacking the sepals at the tips of the mature fruit.
Sweetbriar is an escaped plant which is native to Europe. It is often found naturalized along roadsides and in pastures. It grows well in moist soils in open habitats, and is shade-intolerant.
In Oregon and Washington, sweetbrier may be found west of the Cascades. It may also be found in the eastern U.S.