prairie rose

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

Prairie rose (var.suffulta) is a low, perennial shrub that rises on one to a few stems from a root crown, deep roots, and horizontal, underground stems (rhizomes). It can be 12″ to 40″ tall, though in Minnesota it is rarely more than 18″ in height. The roots extend very deep, sometimes more than 10′, which makes it very drought resistant. The plant is long lived but in Minnesota the aboveground stems often die back to the base in the fall. In the spring new stems rise from the perennial root crown. It often forms loose colonies.

The stems are erect to spreading or ascending, unbranched or few branched, flexible, round, and hairless. They may be slender or stout, up to 3 ⁄16″ in diameter. First-year stems and branches are green. They are densely covered with stiff, slender, bristle-like prickles. The prickles are evenly distributed, not paired at the nodes, and are all more or less alike though unequal in size. They are mostly round, not flattened, and mostly 1 ⁄32″ to ⅛″ long and 1 ⁄64″ to 1 ⁄16″wide, with some up to 5 ⁄16″ long. The base of the prickles are broadened but rarely to more than ⅛″. The stems become reddish-brown to dark purple in the second year.

The leaves are alternate, deciduous, mostly 2″ to 4¼″ long, sometimes up to 6¼″ long, and 2½″to 3″ wide. They are on hairy, ⅝″ to 1 3 ⁄16″ long leaf stalks (petioles). The petioles do not have scattered glands. At the base of the leaf stalk is a pair of leaf-like appendages (stipules) that are fused to the base of the leaf stalk. The stipules are 11 ⁄16″ to 15 ⁄16″long and may have a few glands or gland-tipped teeth near the tip. The leaves are pinnately divided into usually 9, sometimes 7 or 11 leaflets.

The leaflets are inversely egg-shaped or occasionally elliptic, ⅝″to 19 ⁄16″ long, and 5 ⁄16″ to ¾″ wide. They are angled at the base and usually blunt, sometimes pointed at the tip. The upper surface is dark green, dull, and hairless or nearly hairless. The lower surface is pale green and densely covered with short, fine hairs, at least along the veins. The margins are singly toothed with 7 to 15 sharp, forward-pointing teeth per side.

The inflorescence is sometimes a solitary flower, usually a cluster of 3 to 8 large, showy flowers at the tip of green, current year stems or on lateral branches of woody, previous year’s stems. Each flower is borne on a light green, often hairy, ⅜″ to ¾″ long flower stalk. Each flower stalk has 3 modified leaves (bracts).

The flowers are 1½″ to 2″ in diameter. There are 5 sepals, 5 petals, and numerous stamens, and 26 to 43 pistils. The sepals are green, 9 ⁄16″ to ⅞″long, and 1 ⁄16″ to ⅛″ wide. The cup-like base of the flower (hypanthium) is hairless or nearly hairless. The lower (outer) surface of the sepals usually have stalked glands. The petals are ⅝″to 1″ long and wide. They are light pink to bright pink, rarely white. The stamens have more or less yellow filaments and yellow anthers. The styles are free, not fused together, and do not extend noticeably beyond the mouth of the hypanthium. The mass of stigmas is not elevated and effectively closes the mouth of the hypanthium. The flowers are fragrant.

The fruit is a dry seed capsule (achene) surrounded by a mature floral tube (hip). The rose hip is red, fleshy, nearly spherical to egg-shaped, berry-like, ⅜″to 7 ⁄16″long, and ¼″to ½″ wide. It matures in late July to mid-September. Each hip encloses 12 to 15 achenes. The achenes are ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ long, tan, and densely hairy only along one side. The fruits are distributed by animals.

12″ to 40″, usually no more than 18″

Light to bright pink

Prairie rose (Rosa arkansana var. arkansana) is the western variety of this plant. The leaf undersurface is hairless.

Prickly rose (Rosa acicularis ssp. sayi) leaves have usually 5 or 7, sometimes 9, leaflets. The flowers are usually solitary, sometimes in clusters of 2 or 3.

Smooth rose (Rosa blanda var. blanda) has bristles only on the lower part of the stem. First year stems have no prickles. The leaves have usually 5 or 7, sometimes 9, leaflets. The flowers are borne in clusters of 1 to 4.

Dry. Upland prairies, hill prairies, woodland edges and openings, thickets, roadsides, railroads. Full sun.

Early June to early August

Most sources indicate that this plant spreads by creeping rhizomes. According to USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System (FEIS), “… this is not supported by more recent literature.” FEIS does not provide a citation for this statement.

Spiny rose gall wasp (Diplolepis bicolor) produces a large, spine-covered gall that may completely engulf a leaflet.

Prairie rose is the state flower of Iowa and North Dakota.

Sources

4, 29, 30.

Native

Common

This is the eastern variety of the species Rosa arkansana. It differs from the western variety, Rosa arkansana var. arkansana, by having a hairy leaf undersurface. The ranges of the two varieties overlap considerably and there is much intergradation of this characteristic throughout the range. Some authorities, including ITIS and Yatskievych, consider this not worthy of taxonomic distinction, and list Rosa arkansana var. suffulta as a synonym of Rosa arkansana.