''Rosa woodsii'' 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 ...

known by the common names Woods' rose, interior rose, common wild rose, mountain rose, pear-hip rose, and prairie rose.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to North America including much of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

and the western and central United States. It grows in a variety of habitats such as open woods, plains, stream banks, stony slopes and disturbed areas. In the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

s, it grows to in moist, rocky soils in

mixed coniferous forest Mixed coniferous forest is a vegetation type dominated by a mixture of broadleaf trees and conifers.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p 13–14 It is generally located in mountains, below the upper montane vegetation type. Si ...

, upper montane forest, and

subalpine forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

Description

File:Rosa woodsii 4218.JPG, Prickle (closeup) File:Rosa woodsii rose hips.jpg, Rose hips of Rosa woodsii File:Wild rose Rosa woodsii closeup.jpg, Lighter pink flower, at in the Eastern Sierra File:Mountain roses on Raspberry Island-vertical.JPG, ''Rosa woodsii'' on

Raspberry Island (Alaska) Raspberry Island (russian: Малиновый) is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago located in the Gulf of Alaska in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located two miles northwest of Whale Island, and just across the mile-wide Raspberry Strait f ...

Growth pattern

''Rosa woodsii'' is a perennial bushy

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

which grows up to three meters tall. The shrubs can form large, dense thickets. The plant reproduces sexually by seed and

vegetatively Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spec ...

by sprouting from the root crown,

layering Layering has evolved as a common means of vegetative propagation of numerous species in natural environments. Layering is also utilized by horticulturists to propagate desirable plants. Natural layering typically occurs when a branch touches ...

, and by producing root suckers.

Leaves and stems

The stems are straight, red to grey-brown and studded with prickles. The deciduous leaves are each made up of several widely spaced sharp-toothed leaflets up to 5 centimeters long.

Inflorescence and fruit

The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a cyme of up to a few fragrant flowers with five petals in any shade of pink and measuring up to 2.5 centimeters in length. Flowers bloom between May to July and have many stamens and pistils. The fruit is a red

rose hip The rose hip or rosehip, also called rose haw and rose hep, is the accessory fruit of the various species of rose plant. It is typically red to orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form after pollinat ...

which may be over a centimeter long and matures in August to September. They can be eaten, used in tea or as medicine.

References

External links

Jepson Manual treatment - ''Rosa woodsii''Washington Burke Museum
* * woodsii Bird food plants Flora of North America {{Rosa-stub