Rosa albertii Reg.

A shrub 2 to 4 ft high, the stems armed with numerous, straight, needle-like prickles. Leaves 1 to; in. long, composed of five to nine leaflets, which are ovate, obovate, or roundish, 1⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. long, sharply toothed, the teeth usually compound-glandular, glabrous above, minutely downy beneath; rachis downy and glandular. Flowers white, 11⁄2 in. across, solitary. Pedicels glandular. Sepals lanceolate, glabrous outside. Fruits about 3⁄4 in. long, shortly stalked, slenderly pear-shaped or ellipsoid, shedding when ripe both the sepals and the top of the receptacle.

Native of Russia in the Altai Mountains and Central Asia; discovered by Albert Regel in 1877, introduced by him to the St Petersburg Botanic Garden, and named after him by his father. Although resembling R. pimpinellifolia in some characters, it is nearer to R. beggeriana, with which it has in common the peculiar fruits, devoid both of calyx and disk when ripe.

Plants at one time cultivated as R. albertii were wrongly named, and near to R. ecae. The rose portrayed as R. albertii in Willmott, The Genus Rosa, p. 319, t., is also wrongly named.