Shrub to 1 m tall Leaves: pinnately compound, with five to nine leaflets (usually nine on flowering stems). The leaflets are elliptic, tapered at both ends, somewhat leathery, and densely hairy and pale beneath. Flowers: a few per cluster, borne on main stems of current season's growth and some lateral shoots, with a usually glandular-haired stalk, a sometimes glandular floral tube (hypanthium), more or less persistent sepals becoming spreading to erect in fruit, and pink petals. Fruit: bony achenes surrounded by the mature floral tube (hip). Stems: densely bristly. Stipules: sometimes present, glandular.

Similar species: The characteristics of this species tend to be intermediate of the parents. Rosa carolina is distinguished by its nearly hairless leaflets, usually solitary flowers, stalked-glandular flower stalk and floral tube, and non-persistent sepals. Rosa arkansana is more similar to the hybrid, but has more or less glandless stipules and a nearly hairless flower stalk and floral tube.

Flowering: mid June to late July

Habitat and ecology: Frequent in the western Chicago Region, this species grows on dry prairie remnants and along railroads.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Rosa is the Latin name for a rose.

Author: The Morton Arboretum