''Rosa sempervirens'', the evergreen rose, is a species of wild

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 the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. It is a climbing perennial with very prickly stems.

Classification

''Rosa sempervirens'' is most closely related to '' Rosa phoenicia'' and '' Rosa arvensis'' . It was used repeatedly as parent for hybrids produced by

Henri Antoine Jacques Henri Antoine Jacques (1782 Chelles, Seine-et-Marne – 1866) was a French nurseryman specialising in roses, and noted for having introduced the Bourbon Group of roses from Île Bourbon to France. It was illustrated by Pierre-Joseph Redouté ( ...

, gardener to King

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

of France.

Habitat

It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

shrub mostly growing in maquis or in sheltered valleys . Its distribution encompasses mainland Greece, some Aegean islands (including

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

), the Adriatic coast of the Balkans, Italy, the islands in the Western Mediterranean, some coastal areas of the Iberian peninsula and France (up to 700 m in the Maritime Alps, and northwards up to the southernmost parts of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

), in the north of Morocco and Algeria, and in more isolated instances in the Atlas mountains and in

European Turkey East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( tr, Doğu Trakya or simply ''Trakya''; el, Ανατολική Θράκη, ''Anatoliki Thraki''; bg, Източна Тракия, ''Iztochna Trakiya''), also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the pa ...

Description

''Rosa sempervirens'' leaves are glossy, compound-pinnate and evergreen. It is a bushy shrub that can reach 1.5 meters high, growing in hedges or forming thickets. Climbing forms can reach 3.5 m in height. The stems bear few, slightly curved prickles. The im

paripinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves generally have five leaflets, sometimes seven. The leaflets, lanceolate oval, shiny on their upper surface, glabrous, with tight edges, are 2 to 5 cm long. These relatively leathery, dark green leaves persist much of the winter. The white, simple, slightly fragrant flowers, 3 to 5 cm in diameter, are grouped together in sparse

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial ...

s. They bloom in spring and early summer from May to July, or in spring and early summer. The fruits, globular or ovoid, orange-red when ripe, are about 1 cm long.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q2703655

sempervirens In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

Vines Flora of France Garden plants of Europe Drought-tolerant plants Bird food plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Classification

Habitat

Description

See also

References