Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Rosa canina
Common name
Dog Rose, Common Brier
Family
Rosaceae
Where found
Native bushland, woodland, pastures, roadsides, waste areas, and along streams. Sydney area north from the Campbelltown district. Western Slopes. ACT. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced (deciduous at least in the ACT and nearby) erect or arching shrub to about 5 m high, sometimes climbing. Stems with scattered prickles to 10 mm long. Leaf margins with sharp teeth. Fruit fleshy, not edible. Stems smooth, hairless or almost hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 5–7 leaflets, each 1.5–4 cm long, 10–20 mm wide, surfaces hairless, not glandular except for scattered glands on the midvein on the lower surface, tips pointed. A pair of leaflike stipules at the base of each leaf, with fine glandular hairs restricted to the margins. Flowers white to bright pink with a faint sweet smell, 20-50 mm in diameter, with 5 petals. Flower stalks more or less hairless, without prickles or glandular hairs. Flowers single or in few-flowered clusters. Flowers Oct.–Dec. Fruit orange to dark red, oval to round, 10-20 mm long, hairless.
Very difficult to differentiate from Rosa rubiginosa, but not covered by General Biosecurity Duty all NSW, Pest Plants ACT, or Noxious Weeds Vic legislation. (accessed 3 April 2021)
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rosa~canina (accessed 3 April 2021)
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