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Rosa blanda var. blanda Ait.
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TAXONOMY
 
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Rosa
 
Species Synonyms: Rosa blanda var. carpohispida Schuette
Rosa rousseauiorum Boivin
Rosa subblanda Rydb.
Rosa williamsii Fern.
Common Names: smooth rose
smooth wild rose
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: eastern Saskatchewan – Manitoba – Ontario – Quebec – New Brunswick – Nova Scotia
Saskatchewan: central to eastern Saskatchewan; Moose Mountain – Saskatoon – Fort-a-la-Corne
Ecoregion: Moist Mixed Grassland, Aspen Parkland, Boreal Transition, Mid-Boreal Lowland
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: riparian deciduous or mixed woods and shrub thickets
Canada: thickets and rocky slopes
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Threatened
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5 S1S2
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
None
 
Smooth rose is threatened because of rarity in Saskatchewan. Possible threats have been identified for this species.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 50 – 150 cm
Stems: woody, erect, stout, unarmed or with a few scattered prickles
Leaves: alternate, odd-pinnate; margins of stipules rarely glandular
Leaflets: 5 – 7, 1.5 – 4 cm long, 1 – 3 cm wide, elliptic to egg-shaped, glabrous, yellowish-green above, pale and at least somewhat tomentulose below, margin coarsely saw-toothed; stipules rather broad, usually lightly woolly
Inflorescence: flowers solitary or in branched clusters; flower stalks usually hairless
Flowers: large, regular; hypanthium hairless; sepals 5, 1.5 – 2 cm long, hairy, glandular; petals 5, 2 – 3 cm long, egg-shaped, pink, occasionally streaked with red; stamens numerous; ovaries numerous, inserted in the sides of the hypanthium
Fruits: fleshy, enlarged hypanthium reddish, surrounding achenes; achenes 20 – 40, bony
 
ROSA KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Stems semi-herbaceous, to 50 cm tall; leaflets mostly 9 to 11
2
1 Stems woody, commonly taller than 50 cm; leaflets mostly 5 to 7
3
   
2 Leaflets long-hairy below
R. arkansana var. suffulta
2 Leaflets hairless
R. arkansana var. arkansana
 
3 Stems lacking prickles or with very few prickles
R. blanda var. blanda
3 Stems definitely prickly
4
 
4 Stems with fewer prickles, prickles at nodes larger and clearly differentiated from other stem prickles; prickles broad and usually flattened at the base; fruit round, neck not conspicuous
R. woodsii var. woodsii
4 Stems very prickly, prickles at nodes not differentiated from other stem prickles; prickles not broad or flattened at the base; fruit oval with a distinct neck
R. acicularis ssp. sayi