Rosa subcanina

Rosa subcanina is a deciduous shrubby wild rose of the section Caninae, native to Europe and western Asia where it grows in hedgerows, scrub, wood margins and rough grasslands. It is a close ally of the common dog-rose (Rosa canina) and is sometimes treated as one of its many microspecies or as a subspecies. Plants form arching shrubs 1-2.5 m tall, with vigorous, green to reddish-brown canes armed with strong, broad-based, hooked prickles. The pinnately compound leaves bear five to seven elliptic to ovate leaflets 1.5-4 cm long, with simply serrate margins and, characteristically, scattered glandular hairs on the leaflet underside or rachis, distinguishing it from typical R. canina. In early summer the shrub bears solitary or few-flowered clusters of pale pink to almost white five-petalled flowers 3-5 cm across, followed in autumn by oval to ellipsoid bright red hips.