Dog Rose | Plant Information

Plant Data

Order:

Rosales

Family:

Rosaceae (Rose)

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Flowers:

Variable in colour from dark pink to white, 5 notched petals and yellow stamens.

Fruit:

Egg-shaped, bright red fruit (rosehip), up to 3cm in diameter. Usually not hairy. Many-seeded.

Leaves:

A deciduous climbing shrub. Dark green leaves, sometimes downy beneath. Its pinnate leaves are alternate along the stems. The 5 to 7 leaflets have toothed margins.

Maximum Size:

4 meters tall.

Foraging Notes:

The fruit, or rosehip can be eaten raw or cooked and used to make rosehip syrup, jam, jelly and vinegar. The leaves and fruit can be dried and used to make tea. The seeds can be eaten and are high in vitamin E. They can be ground down and mixed with flour. The petals can be eaten, raw or cooked. Care is required in order to remove the seed hairs situated beneath the fruit. These hairs may cause irritation to the digestive tract and mouth if eaten.
Never consume a wild plant unless you are 100% certain that it is safe to eat and you know that you have identified it correctly.

Aroma:

Sweet-scented flowers.

Other Names:

Briar, Briar-rose, Cat Rose, Cock-bramble, Dike-rose, Dog Briar, Eglantine, Hip-rose, Pig-rose, Wild Rose.

Habitats:

Hedgerows, roadsides, scrub, woodland.