rose

There are many species of rose, and many cultivated varieties. The flowers are followed by brightly coloured false fruits called hips. These are fleshy growths formed from the stem beneath the flower. The true fruits are the ‘seeds’ within the hips.

Any shrub or climbing plant belonging to the rose family, with prickly stems and fragrant flowers in many different colours. Numerous cultivated forms have been derived from the sweetbrier or eglantine (R. rubiginosa) and dogrose (R. canina) native to Europe and Asia. There are many climbing varieties, but the forms most commonly grown in gardens are bush roses and standards (cultivated roses grafted on to a brier stem). (Genus Rosa, family Rosaceae.)

Thousands of new rose varieties are created every year by fertilizing a particular plant with pollen from another desirable plant, and growing the resultant seeds. When the young plant produces buds they are removed and grafted on to disease-resistant rootstock. Only a small proportion of new varieties produced by growers are introduced to the market.