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Rosa × involuta Sm.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rosa × involuta' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rosa/rosa-x-involuta/). Accessed 2026-05-13.

Family

  • Rosaceae

Genus

Synonyms

  • R. × gracilis Woods
  • ? R. rubella Sm.
  • R. wilsonii Borrer, at least in part

Glossary

rachis
Central axis of an inflorescence cone or pinnate leaf.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).
orbicular
Circular.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
reflexed
Folded backwards.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rosa × involuta' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rosa/rosa-x-involuta/). Accessed 2026-05-13.

A hybrid between R. pimpinellifolia and, it is now thought, R. sherardii, described from specimens collected in the ‘Western Isles of Scotland’. Plants with R. pimpinellifolia as the seed-parent take after that species in armature. Leaflets usually seven broadly ovate to almost orbicular or elliptic, more or less double-toothed, downy beneath. Rachis downy to almost glabrous, with straight or slightly curved small prickles and a few glandular bristles. Flowers solitary, on bristly peduncles rarely more than 1⁄2 in. long. Fruits roundish, bristly; sepals persistent, erect or reflexed, glandular on the back. The reverse cross gives a more robust plant, more or less intermediate between the parents.

This hybrid occurs in Scotland, N. Wales and N. England, the form with the burnet rose as the seed-parent being the commoner.

R × sabinii Woods

A natural hybrid between R. pimpinellifolia and R. mollis. The commoner form, with the burnet rose as the seed-parent, resembles the above but the leaf-rachis has only a few short, curved prickles, the peduncles are longer, to {3/4} in. long, and the fruits are ovoid or urn-shaped, longer than wide, sparsely bristly, with erect sepals. It has more or less the same distribution in Britain as R. × involuta but is less common. The reverse cross is rare.The hybrid R. pimpinellifolia × R. tomentosa is uncommon in Britain but has been collected in a few localities in S.E. England and the Midlands, the former being the seed-parent in all cases. The more indumented leaflets, hairy above and tomentose beneath serve to distinguish it from R. × involuta and R. × sabinii.For further details, see R. Melville in C. A. Stace, Hybridisation and the Flora of the British Isles (1975), pp. 218–220, on which the above is largely based.

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