''Rosa sericea'', the silky rose, is a species of flowering plant. The closely related '' Rosa omeiensis'' is sometimes treated as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

of ''R. sericea''.

Distribution

It is native to south-western China (

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 ...

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 ...

, Xizang,

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in 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 Kunming. The province borders the ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

, northern India (

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Sil ...

), Nepal and Myanmar; it grows in mountains at altitudes of .

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 ...

growing tall and is often very spiny. The

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

are

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

, long, with 7–11 leaflets with a serrated margin. 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 mechanis ...

s are diameter, white, with (unusually for a rose) only four petals. The hips are red, diameter, with persistent sepals, and often bristly.

Forms

There are four formae: * ''Rosa sericea'' f. ''sericea'' * ''Rosa sericea'' f. ''glandulosa'' T.T.Yü & T.C.Ku. * ''Rosa sericea'' f. ''glabrescens'' Franchet. * ''Rosa sericea'' f. ''pteracantha'' Franchet.

Cultivation and uses

''Rosa sericea'' f. ''pteracantha'' is grown 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 ...

for its large, bright red thorns.

Gallery

Rosa sericea pteracantha shrub.jpg, A shrub of ''Rosa sericea'' f. ''pteracantha'' Rosa Sericea Subsp Omeiensis Forma Pteracantha- Winged Thorn Rose.jpg, Winged thorn rose detail

References

sericea Flora of China Flora of Asia Flora of Nepal {{Rosa-stub