Rugosa Rose

Rugosa Rose or Japanese Rose (Rosa rugosa) is a rose with short, straight thorns. It develops new plants from the roots and forms dense shrubs 1-1.5 m tall. The leaves are 8-15 cm long, pinnate with 5-9 leaflets, most often 7, each leaflet 3-4 cm long, with a distinct corrugated (rugose, hence the species' name) surface. The flowers are pleasantly scented, dark pink to white, 6-9 cm across, with somewhat wrinkled petals; flowering is from June to September. The hips are large, 2-3 cm diameter, and often shorter than their diameter, not elongated like most other rose hips.

The origin of the species is in eastern Asia and Japan where it was used as an ornamental plant. In the wild, it grows on the coast, often on sand dunes. The Japanese name is Hama-nasu (ハマナス), meaning "shore pear".

The sweetly scented flowers are used to make pot-pourri in Japan and China, where it has been cultivated for about a thousand years.

Rugosa Rose hybridises readily with many other roses, and is valued by rose breeders for its considerable resistance to the diseases rose rust and rose black spot . It is also extremely tolerant of seaside salt spray and storms, commonly being the first shrub in from the coast.