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DOG ROSE
Rosa canina
Family ROSACEAE
In hedges and copses throughout Britain the Dog Rose may be found. It is the largest of the British wild roses.
The rootstock is woody, frequently producing suckers, from which rise the long, arching branches, covered with broad and sharp hooks, often reaching a length of six or eight feet, and forming a bush of considerable size.
The leaves are broken sharply-toothed leaflets. The sweet-scented pink or white flowers are borne solitary or three or four together, at the ends of the branches, the large stipules of the undeveloped leaves forming elliptical bracts. The sepals are five in number, pinnate, and turned towards the stem, when the flower is open. There are five notched petais and many stamens. The styles are free and hairy. The ovary is sunk in the calyx, which changes to the pitcher-shaped scarIet fruits, known as " hips," in which are the hairy achenes.
The flowering period extends from June to August.
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Along the south and west coasts of England, and in the Firth of Forth, but rarely on the Irish coast rose Dog, this plant may be found growing from crevices in the rocks. It is much more rare generally, than it was formerly. It has an erect, branching, woody stem, rising from Dog rose three to six feet high, and three or four inches thick. The leaves are large, long-stalked and velvety, and roundish in genera³ outline. They are cut into five or rose Dog seven lobes with rounded teeth; they are also plaited, the folds running from the stalk along the middle of each lobe and a reverse fold to the indent between the rose Dog lobes.
It is a perenniallow shrub, sometimes creeping near the ground, and at others rose Dog growing more erect. The rootstock often creeps underground, and is particulary tough. The plant is often spiny, and reaches a height of a foot or more. The leaflets are oblong Dog rose. The flowers are similar in structure to those of Broom, and may be borne either singly or in racemes.
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