Rosa rugosa Information & Rosa rugosa Links at HealthHaven.com

Rosa rugosa
	Rosa rugosa flower
Conservation status
	Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae;
Division:	Magnoliophyta;
Class:	Magnoliopsida;
Order:	Rosales;
Family:	Rosaceae;
Genus:	Rosa;
Species:	R. rugosa;
Binomial name
	Rosa rugosa; Thunb.

Rosa rugosa (rugosa rose, Japanese rose, or Ramanas rose) is a species of rose native to eastern Asia, in northeastern China, Japan, Korea and southeastern Siberia, where it grows on the coast, often on sand dunes.

[edit] Vernacular names

In Japanese, it is called hamanasu (ハマナス^?), meaning "shore pear". In Korean, the species is called haedanghwa (해당화, 海棠花), literally "flowers near seashore".^[1]

[edit] Features

Rugosa Rose hips and autumn leaf

It is a suckering shrub which develops new plants from the roots and forms dense thickets 1–1.50 m tall with stems densely covered in numerous short, straight thorns 3-10 mm long. The leaves are 8–15 cm long, pinnate with 5–9 leaflets, most often 7, each leaflet 3–4 cm long, with a distinctly corrugated (rugose, hence the species' name) surface. The flowers are pleasantly scented, dark pink to white, 6–9 cm across, with somewhat wrinkled petals; flowering is from summer to autumn (June to September in the northern hemisphere).

The hips are large, 2–3 cm diameter, and often shorter than their diameter, not elongated like most other rose hips; in late summer and early autumn the plants often bear fruit and flowers at the same time. The leaves typically turn bright yellow before falling in autumn.

[edit] Cultivation and uses

Rugosa rose is widely used as an ornamental plant. It has been introduced to numerous areas of Europe and North America. It has many common names, several of which refer to the fruit's resemblance to a tomato, including beach tomato or sea tomato; saltspray rose and beach rose are others.

The sweetly scented flowers are used to make pot-pourri in Japan and China, where it has been cultivated for about a thousand years.

This species hybridises readily with many other roses, and is valued by rose breeders for its considerable resistance to the diseases rose rust and rose black spot. It is also extremely tolerant of seaside salt spray and storms, commonly being the first shrub in from the coast. It is widely used in landscaping, being relatively tough and trouble-free. Needing little maintenance, it is suitable for planting in large numbers; its salt-tolerance makes it useful for planting beside roads which need deicing with salt regularly.

Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use, with flower colour varying from white to dark red-purple, and with semi-double to double flowers where some or all of the stamens are replaced by extra petals. Popular examples include 'Fru Dagmar Hastrup' (pink, single), 'Pink Grootendorst' (pink, semi-double), 'Blanc Double du Coubert' (white, double) and the more common 'Roseraie de L’Hay' (pink, double), which is often used for its very successful rootstock and its ornamental rose hips.