''Bauera rubioides'', commonly known as river rose, dog rose or wiry bauera, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cunoniaceae and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to south-eastern Australia. It is a scrambling, tangled shrub with wiry branches,

trifoliate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, usually toothed leaves, and pink or white flowers.

Description

''Bauera rubioides'' is a scrambling, tangled shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has wiry, extensively-branched stems. The leaves are trifoliate, the leaflets narrowly elliptic, mostly long, wide and usually have four to ten teeth on each edge. The flowers are borne on pedicels more than long and have six to eight toothed

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s long, six to eight usually pink sometimes white, petals long, and usually fifty to sixty cream-coloured stamens. Flowering mostly occurs in spring and summer.

Taxonomy

''Bauera rubioides'' was first formally described in 1801 by Henry Cranke Andrews in ''The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants''. Andrews noted "...the whole plant has, at first sight, much the appearance of a ''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these ...

''." John Sims recorded in '' Curtis's Botanical Magazine'' that "...the trivial name is derived from the resemblance which it bears, especially in its young state, to a

Rubia ''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...

, not a Rubus, as Mr. Andrews, with his usual accuracy, would have it."

Distribution and habitat

River rose grows in wet, often shaded areas in south-eastern Queensland, the coast and ranges of New South Wales, in southern Victoria, south-eastern South Australia and it is common in Tasmania.

Use in horticulture

''Bauera rubioides'' is readily grown from cuttings and is hardy in moist, well-drained soil in full sun or light shade.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4873466 Cunoniaceae Oxalidales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of Tasmania Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1801 Taxa named by Henry Charles Andrews