''Rosa chinensis'' (), known commonly as the China rose, Chinese rose, or Bengal rose, is a member of the genus ''

Rosa 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 ...

'' native to

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 ...

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

, and

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Provinces. The first publication of ''Rosa chinensis'' was in 1768 by

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to P ...

in ''Observationum Botanicarum'', 3, p. 7 & plate 55.

Description

It is a

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 ...

that reaches 1–2 m and grows in

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...

s or forms

thicket A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in t ...

s. The leaves are pinnate, have 3–5 leaflets, each 2.5–6 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. In the wild species (sometimes listed as ''Rosa chinensis'' var. ''spontanea''), the flowers have five pink to red petals. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a red

hip 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 ...

one to two cm in diameter. The strong branches have a smooth purplish-brown bark, and there may be many to no curved, stocky, flat spines. The alternately-arranged leaves, 12 to 27 cm long, are

pinnate 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 ...

ly divided. The petiole and the

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...

are sparsely spiny, with glandular hairs. The leaf blades usually have three or five or, rarely, seven leaflets, 2.5 to 6 centimeters in length, with a width of 1 to 3 centimeters,

ovate Ovate may refer to: * Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ova ...

or ovate-oblong with a weak-rounded or broad and wedge-shaped base, a more-or-less long, tapered apex and sharply toothed edge. The upper surface is shiny and dark green.

Inflorescence

In China, the flowering time of ''R. chinensis'' ranges from April to September. Rarely, the flowers are solitary; usually appearing in groups of four or five. The 2.5 to 6 cm long

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

has variable hairiness. The one to three naked bracts are linear, with a pointed apex and a smooth or glandular margin. The flowers have a mild fragrance. The

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

flowers have

radial symmetry Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a pla ...

, with a diameter of four to five cm, and may be double. There are cultivated forms with simple to more or less strongly double flowers, which are also wild in China and nearby areas of temperate latitudes. The bald

flower cup The Flower Cup (Japanese フラワーカップ) is a Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies run in March over a distance of 1800 metres at Nakayama Racecourse. The race was first run in 1987 and has been run at Grade 3 level ...

is egg-shaped, spherical or pear-shaped. The early-dropping sepals are ovate or sometimes leaf-like, simple or lobed, cupped towards the apex. The five to several or many petals are white-over-pink to red or purple,

obovate 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 ...

with a wedge-shaped base and a rounded apex. There are many

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

. The free,

hairy Hairy may refer to: * people or animals covered in hairs or fur * plants covered in trichomes * insects covered in setae * people nicknamed "the Hairy" * Hairy (gene) See also * Hairies, a fictional people * Haerye ''Hunminjeongeum Haerye'' ...

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

is almost as long as the stamens. In China, the fruits ripen from June to November, turning red. They are egg-shaped to pear-shaped, with a diameter of one to two centimeters.

Cultivation

Various forms of ''Rosa chinensis'' have been cultivated in gardens in China for a long time; therefore, it is not easy to distinguish between wild forms and cultivated forms. Many varieties of garden roses have been bred from ''Rosa chinensis''. The species is extensively cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, and numerous

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s have been selected, which are known as the China roses. It has also been extensively interbred with ''

Rosa gigantea ''Rosa gigantea'' is a species of rose native to northeast India, northern Myanmar and southwest China (Yunnan) in the foothills of the Himalaya at 1000–1500 m altitude. It is sometimes considered to be a variety of ''Rosa odorata'', as '' ...

'' to produce ''

Rosa × odorata ''Rosa'' × ''odorata'' or ''Rosa odorata'' is a hybrid flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' native to Yunnan in southwest China, whose taxonomy has been confused. It has been considered a hybrid of ''Rosa gigantea'' and ''Rosa chinensis'', or ...

'' and by further hybridization the tea roses and hybrid tea roses, and is the source of summer-blooming varieties and those with continuous flowering.

Varieties

Three varieties of the species are recognized in the ''Flora of China'': * ''R. chinensis'' var. ''chinensis'', originated in cultivation, with red petals * ''R. chinensis'' var. ''spontanea'', native to Guizhou, Hubei, and Sichuan, with red petals * ''R. chinensis'' var. ''semperflorens'' (Curtis) Koehne, originated in cultivation, with dark red or purple petals

Uses

Cultivars developed from ''Rosa chinensis'' have been important in the breeding of many modern garden roses by providing the repeat-blooming characteristic, although this is not a feature of the wild species. The many forms of ''Rosa chinensis'' are also used in many other ways. The young vegetative plant parts,

flower bud In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be speci ...

s and flowers are brewed and eaten as a kitchen

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

, for example, as a

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

. From the rosehips, a thin fleshy layer that surrounds the seeds is eaten raw or cooked. The seed hair must be removed; It has to be handled very carefully. The seed hairs must not get into the mouth and throat. The seeds are a good source of

vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency, which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vi ...

. The seeds can be ground and mixed with flour or added to other foods.Wu Zheng-yi & Peter H. Raven (ed.): Flora of China , Volume 9 - Pittosporaceae through Connaraceae , Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis, 2003. (Sections Description, Occurrence and Systematics) Image:Rosa chinensis 1795.jpg, 18th-century painting of two cultivars File:Rosa-chinensis.JPG, A ''Rosa chinensis'' cultivar File:Viridifolia Green Rose.jpg, ''Rosa chinensis'' 'Viridiflora', in which the petals are replaced with leaves (

phyllody Phyllody is the abnormal development of floral parts into leafy structures. It is generally caused by phytoplasma or virus infections, though it may also be because of environmental factors that result in an imbalance in plant hormones. Phyllo ...

) File:Rosa_semperflorens_Curtis.jpg, Botanical illustration File:Rosa_Bengale_Rouge1a.UME.jpg, Rose 'Bengal Red'

References

*
Plants for a Future: ''Rosa chinensis''
{{taxonbar , from=Q344900 chinensis Flora of China Medicinal plants Ornamental plants