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BURNET ROSE

Rosa spinosissima

(Formerly: Rosa pimpinellifolia)
Rose Family [Rosaceae]

month8may month8jun month8june month8jul month8july

category
category8Shrubs
category
category8Broadleaf
category
category8Deciduous
status
statusZnative

flower
flower8white
 
inner
inner8yellow
 
morph
morph8actino
 
petals
petalsZ5
 
stem
stem8round
 
stem
stem8spines
spines
smell
smell8fragrant
fragrant
contact
contactZhigh
 
sex
sexZbisexual
 

23rd May 2008, Shell Island campsite, North Wales coast. Photo: © RWD
A low plant usually with white petals, sometimes reaching the dizzy heights of up to 50cm (or even to 1m on occasion). This one cannot get above the grass.


1st May 2010, Sandscale Haws, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
Burnet Rose especially likes to grow near the seaside, but will grow inland too. These specimens are but 200 yards from the sea. The leaves have between 3 to 5 opposite pairs of leaflets plus one terminal leaflet, and are often flushed with a red dye making them appear muddy green to various degrees.


21st May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD
The flowers are usually white, with 5 petals and between 2 and 4 cm across.


21st May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD


21st May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD
Many flowers here have lost their petals, leaving them with a circle of many anthers. [Grasses and other plants lower left].


21st May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD


21st May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD
The flowers have numerous lemon-yellow filaments in a multitude of lengths radiating outwards from a central ring containing a compact group of stunted yellower stigmas.


1st May 2010, Sandscale Haws, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The multitude of filaments stretch a large range of differing of lengths, each with a similar-sized orange-yellow anther.


23rd May 2008, Shell Island campsite, North Wales coast. Photo: © RWD
The flowers have 5 somewhat overlapping white petals, each with a V-shaped nick in the middle, which can make it look like there are more than 5 petals.

Here there are two as-yet un-opened flowers, with the white petals folded up within the embraces of 5 long sepal teeth coming from the sepal cup.

The edges of the leaves are often flushed red on the edge by the same red dye which makes the leaves a dirty green.



30th June 2018, Red Rock, West Kirby, Wirral. Photo: © RWD
Berries are globed to oblate spheroids (any that are prolate spheroids are probably any of many of a hybrids). The berries turn from a dull red to a dull black when ripe.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
As they ripen and blacken they get heavier and may droop downwards.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
Looking a bit like black conkers. They are on black stalks which seem to start at a leaf junction. Some leaflets here are also red-edged, especially it seems near their tips on this specimen, concolorous in places with the 5 remaining styles which make them look like poisonous jellyfish or landing alien spaceships.


27th May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD
Here the reddish-edged leaf teeth are seen to really be double-toothed and with a few very short black-tipped hairs which have spherical glands at the tips.


5th Aug 2017, Hall Road, Sefton Coast, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The thorns along the stems are of two different kinds, the thinner prickles and the sharp, stiff cat-claw shaped bristles (aka acicles).


5th Aug 2017, Hall Road, Sefton Coast, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The red prickles and thorns on the stem. The leaflets (bottom of photo), are a small 0.5 to 1.5cm long (a 3 to 1 range in size) and oval, hairless, net-veined and with a reddened edge to the small simple teeth (but sometimes the teeth are biserrated).


30th June 2018, Red Rock, West Kirby, Wirral. Photo: © RWD
Occasionally a pink variety can be found, but these are introduced plants.


27th May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD
# After the petals have fallen # The flowers without petals (apart from one top left) revealing the long (now reddish) tapering sepals behind


27th May 2020, Bridgewater Canal, Worsley, Gtr. M/cr. Photo: © RWD
Five red sepals and a plethora of long and short filaments with fawn-coloured anthers. An annular pink area around the central tight cluster of very short pale-brown styles.


It is possible that some of the specimens above are of hybrids between Burnet Rose and a plethora of other Roses such as Japanese Rose (Rosa rugosa), Dog-rose (Rosa canina), Hairy Dog-rose (Rosa corymbifera), Northern Dog-Rose (Rosa caesia), Glaucous Dog-rose (Rosa vosagiaca), Harsh Downy-rose (Rosa tomentosa), Sherard's Downy Rose (Rosa sherardii), Soft Down-rose (Rosa mollis) and Sweet-briar (Rosa rubiginosa). Some are much more abundant than others.

Not to be semantically confused with : Burnet-Saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), Greater Burnet-Saxifrage (Pimpinella major), Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba ssp. sanguisorba), Fodder Burnet (), White Burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) nor with Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) [plants with similar names belonging to either differing families or differing genera].


  Rosa spinosissima  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Rosaceae  

Distribution
 family8Rose family8Rosaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Rosa
Rosa
(Roses)

BURNET ROSE

Rosa spinosissima

(Formerly: Rosa pimpinellifolia)
Rose Family [Rosaceae]