Rosa canina

Dog rose

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Dog rose is a naturalized shrub found in northwestern California and northern Sierra Nevada in dry open areas at elevations of 100 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers 15 to 30 millimeters wide with delicate petals. Growing as a thicket-forming shrub 80 to 400 centimeters tall, it features distinctive curved prickles 3 to 10 millimeters long with thick bases. Its leaves typically have 5 to 7 leaflets, with the terminal leaflet 15 to 40 millimeters long, ovate in shape and widest below the middle with single-toothed margins. The fruit develops as an ellipsoid rose hip 10 to 20 millimeters wide with reflexed sepals.

Habitat: Generally +- dry open areas

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 100-1500 m

Bioregions: NW, n SN

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.