''Rosa gigantea'' is a species of

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

native to northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, northern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and

southwest China Southwest China () is a region in the south of the People's Republic of China. Geography Southwest China is a rugged and mountainous region, transitioning between the Tibetan Plateau to the west and the Chinese coastal hills (东南丘陵) and ...

(

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

) in the foothills of the

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at 1000–1500 m altitude. It is sometimes considered to be a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of ''

Rosa odorata Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) *Rosa (surname) *wiktionary:Santa_Rosa, Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Ger ...

'', as ''R. odorata'' var. ''gigantea''. As its name suggests, it is the largest species of rose, climbing 20 m or more into the crowns of other

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s by means of its stout, hooked thorns, and with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are semi-evergreen, 15–25 cm long, pinnate, with usually 7 leaflets, each leaflet 4–8 cm long. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are white, creamy or yellow, the largest of any wild rose, 10–14 cm diameter. The

hips In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

are yellow or orange, 2.5–3.5 cm diameter, hard, and often lasting through the winter into the following spring, often still present at the same time as the next years' flowers. Another rose, described from

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

in 1888 as ''R. macrocarpa'' and ''R. xanthocarpa'' by Sir George Watt, an authority on

s, is now generally considered to be the same species as ''R. gigantea''. The distinct characteristics claimed for ''R. macrocarpa'' (deeper yellow flowers, larger foliage with 4 to 7 leaflets and large yellow fruits) are not consistent. After gene sequencing was carried out in 2018, it was found that ''

Rosa roxburghii Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) *Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid * Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, G ...

'' is closely related to ''Rosa odorata var. gigantea''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q140920 gigantea Taxa named by François Crépin