Multiflora rose

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Multiflora rose

Multiflora rose

Multiflora rose sepals

Multiflora rose leaflets

Multiflora rose

Morphology

Stem

Erect and arching to trailing, bearing stout, flattened, broad-based prickles.

Leaves

Alternate, odd-pinnate; leaflets 5-11, egg-shaped or oblong, .8 to 1.6 inch long, glabrous above, usually downy beneath; margins toothed; tips blunt or pointed; stalks pubescent; stipules at base of leaf stalks deeply dissected, comb-like.

Inflorescence

Few to many flowers in rounded or pyrimidal branched clusters.

Flower

Flowers .6 to 1 inch across; sepals 5, .25 to .4 inch long, glabrous or stalked-glandular; tips often tapering to slender points; petals 5, egg-shaped, .25 to .5 inch long, white or rarely pink; stamens numerous; styles united into column.

Fruit

Achenes, about 1/6 inch long, yellowish, somewhat flattened; enclosed in a fleshy, spherical, red "hip".

Ecology

Habitat

Open woodlands, stream valleys, waste places, thickets, pastures, and along roads.

Distribution

East half of Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

It was formerly planted for wildlife cover and to serve as a barrier. It often escapes and becomes weedy.