''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, ...

'' native to Southwest China in

Guizhou Guizhou (; Postal romanization, formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in the Southwest China, southwest region of the China, People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the pr ...

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 p ...

, 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 t ...

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 Par ...

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 tree ...

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 adjoi ...

s or forms thickets. 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 partic ...

is a red hip 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, an ...

ly divided. The petiole and the rachis 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 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 taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have ...

flowers have radial symmetry, 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 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 with a wedge-shaped base and a rounded apex. There are many stamens. 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) The hairy localisation element (HLE) is an RNA element found in the 3' UTR of ...

style 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 ...

, 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 buds 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 medicina ...

, 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 soli ...

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

References