Rosa arkansana

Rosa arkansana (Prairie Rose or Wild Prairie Rose; syn. R. pratincola, R. suffulta, R. suffulta var. relicta) is a species of rose native to a large area of central North America, between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains from Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan south to New Mexico, Texas and Indiana. There are two varieties:

• Rosa arkansana var. arkansana
• Rosa arkansana var. suffulta (Greene) Cockerell

The name Rosa arkansana comes from the Arkansas River in Colorado. The species' wide distribution and consequent genetic drift has led to an extensive synonymy.

The name Prairie Rose is also sometimes applied to Rosa blanda, also known as the Meadow Rose or Smooth Rose, which is also widely spread, but somewhat further to the north.

Wild Prairie Rose is the state flower of the U.S. states of Iowa and North Dakota. In Iowa, convention states the species is Rosa pratincola (currently treated as a synonym of Rosa arkansana). North Dakota, on the other hand, specifies either Rosa arkansana or Rosa blanda. Alberta's "wild rose" is Rosa acicularis.

Rosa anemoniflora

Shrubs climbing, small. Branchlets purple-brown, terete, slender, glabrous; prickles sparse, curved, to 2 mm, flat, gradually tapering to base, sometimes intermixed with smaller prickles, bristles, and glandular trichomes. Leaves including petiole 4–11 cm; stipules narrow, mostly adnate to petiole, apical free parts lanceolate, margin glandular serrate, apex acuminate; rachis and petiole sparsely shortly prickly and glandular-pubescent; leaflets 3, rarely 5, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 2–6 × 0.8–2 cm, glabrous, midvein prominent abaxially, concave adaxially, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin depressed-serrulate, apex acuminate. Flowers solitary or several in corymb, rarely in corymb-panicle, 2–2.5 cm in diam.; pedicel 1–3.5 cm, sparsely glandular-pubescent; bracts ovate-oblong, margin glandular-pubescent, apex acuminate. Hypanthium ovoid, glabrous. Sepals 5, lanceolate, abaxially glabrous, adaxially puberulous, margin sparsely glandular-pubescent, entire, apex acuminate. Petals 5, pink or white, obovate, base cuneate, apex emarginate. Styles connate into column, exserted, slightly longer than stamens, pubescent. Hip purple-brown, ovoid, ca. 7 mm in diam., glabrous, with persistent sepals. Fl. Mar–May, fr. Jun–Aug.

Rosa pendulina

Beautiful single cupped deep cerise purple flowers with pronounced yellow stamens. Purple wood.
Rosa pendulina L. syn R. alpina L. THE ALPINE ROSE A suckering shrub up to 2m high but often less, usually without prickles. Leaflets 7-11, Usually pubescent and sometimes glandular beneath. Flowers solitary, 3-5.5cm across, single, deep mauvish-pink. Fruit pendant, bottle shaped, often glandular, red. Native of open woods and alpine scrub and meadows in the mountains of central and southern Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus, (where the variety oxydon is found). This is the European representative of the R.moyesii group. Zone 5, will survive down to –25°C

Rosa Alba Maxima

'Alba Maxima' is close to an archetypal white rose; it is also one of the oldest roses grown in gardens today. Boccaccio (1313-1375), writer of the Decameron, was quoted by Julia Cartwright in Italian Gardens of the Renaissance. Boccaccio described the beautiful gardens near Rome: "the beauties of these gardens, of the broad alleys shaded by pergolas laden with purple grapes, and bordered with red and white roses and jessamine". There is a good chance the white roses that Boccaccio spoke of were either 'Alba Maxima' or 'Alba Semi-Plena', which still embellish Florentine gardens to this day. 'Alba Maxima' was painted by Italian masters of the fifteenth century. This might be due to the fact that 'Alba Maxima' is a beautiful white rose, which could symbolize the definitive white rose. E.Y. Bunyard believed that 'Alba Maxima', as well as 'Maiden's Blush', was painted in The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. 'Alba Maxima' also appears in many Dutch masterpeices of the eighteenth century. There has been a good share of debate over whether 'Alba Maxima' is the Rose of York, a symbol of English political power. Some experts believe The Rose of York refers to 'Alba Semi-Plena', while Graham Thomas believes it is probably Rosa arvensis. 'Alba Maxima' can sport to 'Alba Semi-Plena' and 'Alba Semi-Plena' can sport to 'Alba Maxima' and this can account for some of the confusion about these roses. 'Alba Maxima' is like a fuller version of 'Semi-Plena'. Jack Harkness wrote that the history of 'Maxima' was lost in the eighteenth and early ninteenth century. What is certain is that the rose is a noble white rose, with many other names such as 'The Jacobite Rose', 'Great Double White', 'The Bonnie Prince Charlie's Rose'. Redouté's Rosa alba flore pleno is 'Alba Semi-Plena'. There are stories of 'Alba Maxima' still surviving for many years in a place where a home once stood. The rose can tolerate some severe conditions. I have had my rose planted in partial shade for over five years. It didn't bloom for a couple of years in my Southern California garden. The rose is a stately six feet tall and it fills up nicely with white, loosely double, scented flowers. In December I love the hips, which are a beautiful red oval shape. 'Alba Semi-Plena' is supposed to be more fragrant than 'Alba Maxima', but I find 'Alba Maxima' to be wonderfully fragrant. I look forward to my roses from 'Alba Maxima' once a year. They are nicely scented of damask and citrus, even tangerine tones. The rose is healthy, with beautiful foliage, that has a blue glow. It is about six feet high, upright, and V-shaped.

Rosa acicularis

Rosa acicularis (syn. R. alpina, R. bourgeauiana, R. gmelinii, R. karelica, R. sayi), also known as the prickly wild rose, the prickly rose, the bristly rose and the Arctic rose, is a species of wild rose with a Holarctic distribution in northern regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.

It is a deciduous shrub growing to 1-3 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, 7-14 cm long, with three to seven leaflets. The flowers are pink (rarely white), 3.5-5 cm diameter; the hips are red, pear-shaped to ovoid, 10-15 mm diameter.

It is the official flower of the Canadian province of Alberta, and is located throughout the province and Western Canada. This species is not as common in this region as Rosa woodsii (Woods rose).

Rosa Species

The genus Rosa is subdivided into four subgenera:

• Hulthemosa (formerly Simplicifoliae, meaning "with single leaves") containing one or two species from southwest Asia, R. persica and R. berberifolia (syn. R. persica var. berberifolia) which are the only roses without compound leaves or stipules.
• Hesperrhodos (from the Greek for "western rose") has two species, both from southwestern North America. These are R. minutifolia and R. stellata.
• Platyrhodon (from the Greek for "flaky rose", referring to flaky bark) with one species from east Asia, R. roxburghii.
• Rosa (the type subgenus) containing all the other roses. This subgenus is subdivided into 11 sections.
  • Banksianae - white and yellow roses from China
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  • Bracteatae - three species, two from China and one from India
  • Caninae - pink and white species from Asia, Europe and North Africa
  • Carolinae - white, pink, and bright pink species all from North America
  • Chinensis - white, pink, yellow, red and mixed-color roses from China and Burma
  • Gallicanae - pink to crimson and striped roses from western Asia and Europe
  • Gymnocarpae - a small group distinguished by a deciduous receptacle on the hip; one species in western North America (R. gymnocarpa), the others in east Asia
  • Laevigatae - a single white species from China
  • Pimpinellifoliae - white, pink, bright yellow, mauve and striped roses from Asia and Europe
  • Rosa (syn. sect. Cinnamomeae) - white, pink, lilac, mulberry and red roses from everywhere but North Africa
  • Synstylae - white, pink, and crimson roses from all areas