Flora of New Zealand Series

dog rose

Deciduous, ± spreading and sometimes semi-scrambling shrub to 3.5 m high, often with suckers; stems usually suberect to spreading, arching in young plants, glabrous; armature of uniform, scattered to moderately abundant, flattened and slightly curved prickles; acicles 0. Lvs with 2-3-(4) pairs of leaflets; petiole usually 15-35-(40) mm long, glabrous or sometimes with sparse glandular hairs; stipules adnate for most of length, glabrous, the denticulate teeth black-tipped. Lamina of leaflets (15)-18-40-(50) × 8-27-(30) mm, elliptic, broad-elliptic, or ovate-elliptic, dull green and glabrous above, sometimes with a few hairs near base, usually glabrous beneath, sometimes hairy, especially on veins and midrib; margins sharply serrate with short acuminate teeth; base rounded; apex acute or subacute, sometimes rounded or shortly acuminate. Fls 1-4-(5), single, 30-55 mm diam.; pedicels glabrous, rarely with scattered glandular hairs. Sepals deciduous, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, sometimes with an expanded apex, puberulent to tomentose inside, usually glabrous outside, rarely with scattered short glandular hairs; outer sepals with a few long linear lobes. Petals 13-23-(28) mm long, obovate, usually white, rarely pale pink, usually with yellowish base when young. Styles free, usually shortly exserted, sometimes well-exserted, glabrous or hairy. Fr. 12-23 mm diam., ± globose to ellipsoid, glabrous, orange-red or red.

N.; S.: scattered throughout most districts in lowland areas, ascending to 600 m, commonest in fairly high rainfall areas.

Europe, S.W. Asia 1867

Swamp and stream margins, grassy and rocky slopes, scrub and tussock grassland, also along roadsides, in hedges and in waste places in and near settlements.

FL Oct-Jan FT Feb-May.

R. canina is an early escape from cultivation and either occurs in small natural populations in open country away from settlements or is scattered in the vicinity of private and public gardens where it is often scarcely wild. Dog rose is one of the commonest spp. used as stocks and a wide variety of roses are budded on to it. Often, the scion rose dies and the R. canina stock grows up and may spread to a limited extent by suckers or from the freely produced hips and seed. R. canina can be easily distinguished from the other spp. of sect. Caninae described here by its glabrous or glabrate shoots, lvs and infls (Fig. 100), but otherwise it is very similar to R. rubiginosa and R. micrantha. In addition, the fully naturalised populations of R. canina are generally in wetter areas than these 2 spp.; however, there is some overlap with R. rubiginosa and vigorous fertile and sterile hybrids are recorded (see under R. rubiginosa). Like nearly all other members of its sect., R. canina usually has very shortly exserted styles which close the receptacle entrance. However, certain specimens (e.g., CHR 257307, Rangiora, N. Canterbury, Mason, 29.11.1973) have longer styles and thus resemble R. stylosa which is unusual in sect. Caninae in having well-exserted styles.