Rose, Wood's - Rosa woodsii

An erect medium shrub from 1 to 2 meters (3 to 7 feet) tall; stems are stout, strongly armed to unarmed (prickles); leaves are alternate, deciduous, odd-pinnately compound with 5 to 7 leaflets, coarsely toothed; flowers are small, pink, in terminal clusters on current years growth; fruit are red-hips from globose to elliptical or pear-shaped. Habitat, occurring as individuals or thickets on open slopes, roadsides and river and stream bottoms at low to mid elevations. Preferred soils vary from silt loam to sandy loam, are well drained and nonsaline. It is intolerant of poor drainage, high watertable and prolonged flooding. Fruit ripens from late summer through fall and is processed by maceration followed by the floating off of pulp and empty seed with water. Seed is stored dry in sealed containers at 1 to 3°C (34 to 37°F). Propagation by seed is either with fresh seed (without pretreatment) in the fall or pretreated seed in the spring. Pretreatment includes a warm stratification period of 60 to 90 days at 18 to 24°C (65 to 75°F) followed by prechilling for 90 to 120 days at 1 to 4°C (34 to 40°F). Cover seed with a shallow layer of soil approximately 0.5 to 2.0 centimeters (0.2 to 0.8 inch) in depth. Percent rooting of softwood and hardwood cuttings is low.

Greenhouse asexual propagation by dormant unrooted hardwood cuttings is rarely successful. Root cuttings have been successfully used to establish Wood’s rose in moist environments.

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Last Modified: 07/05/2007