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Multiflora Rose

Rosa multiflora

Summary 4

Rosa multiflora, commonly known as multiflora rose,baby rose,Japanese rose,many-flowered rose,seven-sisters rose,Eijitsu rose, is a species of rose native to eastern Asia, in China, Japan and Korea. It should not be confused with Rosa rugosa, which is also known as "Japanese rose".

Biology and spread 5

Multiflora rose reproduces by seed and by forming new plants that root from the tips of arching canes that contact the ground. Fruits are readily sought after by birds which are the primary dispersers of its seed. It has been estimated that an average multiflora rose plant may produce a million seeds per year, which may remain viable in the soil for up to twenty years. Germination of multiflora rose seeds is enhanced by passing through the digestive tract of birds.

Comments 6

Two varieties are recognized here. Plants of this species from Taiwan are usually called var. formosana Cardot (Notul. Syst. (Paris) 3: 263. 1916), which is characterized by small leaflets, 1–3 cm × 0.8–1.5 cm, but this taxon seems to fall within the overall range of variation for var. multiflora. Two other varieties are cultivated in China, but do not occur spontaneously: var. alboplena T. T. Yü & T. C. Ku (Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 1(4): 12. 1981), which has white, double flowers, and var. carnea Thory (in Redouté, Roses 2: 67. 1821), which has pink, double flowers.

Conservation status 7

Multiflora rose is designated as a "noxious weed" in Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, a "secondary noxious weed" in Iowa, and as a "county-level noxious weed" in Kansas. It is a "regulated plant" in Ohio, a "regulated non-native plant species" in South Dakota. Maryland and Wisconsin list it as a "nuisance weed" [80,84]. Multiflora rose is listed by the state of Vermont as a Category II plant: "exotic plant species considered to have the potential to displace native plants either on a localized or widespread scale" [85]. For more information see Invaders Database or Plants Database.

Description 8

Shrubs climbing. Branchlets terete, usually glabrous; prickles paired below leaves, sometimes sparsely scattered, curved, to 6 mm, stout, flat, gradually tapering to broad base. Leaves including petiole 5–10 cm; stipules pectinate, mostly adnate to petiole, margin glandular-pubescent or not; rachis and petiole pubescent or glabrous, glandular-pubescent, shortly prickly; leaflets (3–)5–9, obovate, oblong, or ovate, 1–5 × 0.8–2.8 cm, abaxially pubescent, adaxially glabrous, base rounded or cuneate, margin simply serrate, apex acute or rounded-obtuse. Flowers numerous in corymb, 1.5–4 cm in diam.; pedicel 1.5–2.5 cm, puberulous, glabrous, or glandular-pubescent, margin sometimes pectinate; bracts at base of pedicel, small. Hypanthium subglobose, glabrous. Sepals 5, deciduous, lanceolate, abaxially glabrous, adaxially pubescent, margin entire or with 2 linear lobes at middle. Petals 5, semi-double or double, white, pinkish, or pink (in some cultivated plants), fragrant, obovate, base cuneate, apex emarginate. Styles connate in column, exserted, slightly longer than stamens, glabrous. Hip red-brown or purple-brown, subglobose, 6–8 mm in diam., glabrous, shiny. 2n = 14*, 21.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) David Shand, some rights reserved (CC BY-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/14508691@N08/4808282311
  2. (c) Real Jardín Botánico, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/realjardinbotanico/9560844851/
  3. (c) Drriss & Marrionn, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/drriss/8813905918/
  4. Adapted by Jonathan (JC) Carpenter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_multiflora
  5. (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22948838
  6. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4968633
  7. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24265670
  8. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4968632

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