Scientific name: Rosa canina L.
Common name: Dog Rose
Description
Habit: A deciduous, spiny shrub, to 3 m high.
Stems: Semi-erect, arching, spines curved or hooked, strong and broad-based.
Leaves: Alternate, stalked, with leafy stipules fused with the leaf stalk, hairless but not shiny, pinnate; leaflets pointed, toothed.
Flowers: Pale pink to white, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, 3-6 cm across, scented, solitary or in small groups; sepals 5, toothed / lobed, with a deep tube constricted at the mouth (hypanthium), teeth bent backwards on young fruit; petals 5, free; stamens numerous; carpels numerous and sunk in the calyx-tube.
Fruits: A head of achenes, enclosed by fleshy hypanthium; ovoid, red, 1-2.5 cm, hairless.
Habitat: Hedges, thickets, streamsides.Distribution: Frequent on the limestone, occasional elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No