Rosa foliolosa Torr. & Gr.

A shrub sometimes up to 5 ft high in gardens, though usually not much more than half that height, spreading by means of suckers; stems clustered, erect, either unarmed or with a few straight, slender prickles. Leaflets seven to eleven, narrowly oblong, 3⁄4 to 2 in. long, glabrous and glossy above, downy on the midrib beneath, finely toothed. Stipules narrow. Flowers white or rosy pink in wild plants, but rich pink in the form cultivated in Britain, fragrant, solitary or few on short stalks, 2 to 21⁄2 in. across, borne over a long period from midsummer onwards. Sepals 3⁄8 to 1 in. long, bristly outside. Fruits red, bristly, orange-shaped, 3⁄8 to 1⁄2 in. wide, sepals spreading. Bot. Mag., t. 8513.

Native of the USA in western Arkansas, Oklahoma and parts of Texas; in cultivation at Kew by 1880, but little known in gardens until Canon Ellacombe’s fine pink form was portrayed in the Botanical Magazine in 1913. It is distinct among American roses in its oblong, rather narrow, forward-pointing leaflets, closely set on the rachis. The foliage colours well in the autumn. The individual stems are short-lived and the oldest of them should be regularly removed.