Description

Rose family (Rosaceae). Native subshrubs or shrubs growing 0.2-2(-3) m high, rhizomatous, with shallow, frequently branching fibrous roots, sometimes forming nearly impenetrable thickets; stems reddish-brown to gray, with straight or slightly curved prickles. Leaves are deciduous, alternate, odd-pinnately compound, leaflets 5-7(-11), obovate to ovate or elliptic, ca. 1.5-3(-4) cm long, finely toothed toward the tip. Flowers occur on branches lateral from the old wood, 10-20 cm long, few in a cluster at the stem tip, less commonly solitary; petals 5, (10-)15-25 mm long, pink to lilac-pink, or lavender; sepals lanceolate, 1-2 cm long, erect and usually persistent, tomentose on the margins and inner surface. Fruit is a fleshy, red, globose to ellipsoid “hip” 5-12 mm wide, derived from the base of the sepals and petals; nutlets 15-35, 3-4 mm long. Named for Joseph Woods, 1776-1864, an early English student of roses.

Variation within the species: many variants have been described, and the species now includes many roses previously described as species. The following varieties are sometimes now recognized (Cronquist & Holmgren 1997) but they are combined as a single variable species by others (e.g., Ertter 1993 in The Jepson Manual).

Rosa woodsii var. glabrata (Parish) Cole – CA

Rosa woodsii var. gratissima (Greene) Cole – CA and NV

Rosa woodsii var. ultramontana (S. Wats.) Jepson

Rosa woodsii var. woodsii

Woods’ rose forms natural hybrids with R. acicularis Lindl., R. arkansana Porter, R. blanda Ait., and probably others.

Woods’ rose is recognized among many similar species of rose by its combination of shrubby, thicket-forming habit, stems with straight prickles, and leaves and sepals without glands.