A shrub to about 5 ft high in gardens, which, in the commonly cultivated form, suckers freely, and soon forms a dense mass of erect stems, dividing at the top into heads of stiff, brownish red branches and twigs; sucker-stems stout, densely clad with bristles and needles, in marked contrast to the branches, which bear prickles in pairs at the nodes but are otherwise unarmed (for the shape of the prickles see below). Leaves glossy green above, 3 to 5 in. long, composed of usually seven, sometimes nine leaflets, which are mostly obovate or oblong-obovate or oblong-elliptic, 1 to 2 in. long, rather coarsely toothed except towards the base, glabrous above, often the same below, but occasionally downy on the midrib as well as on the rachis. Stipules leafy, widening toward the apex. Flowers borne in July or early August in clusters of often three, sometimes solitary, 2 to 21⁄2 in. across, pink. Pedicels and receptacle smooth or glandular. Sepals about 1 in. long, with long, slender points, glandular and downy, entire or with a few slender appendages. Fruits orange-shaped, 1⁄2 in. wide, red, crowned at first with spreading sepals which fall away when the fruit is ripe.
Native of eastern North America; in cultivation since early in the 18th century, perhaps earlier. It is a useful plant for forming thickets in the wild garden, but is too invasive for a choice position, which it would otherwise deserve, for its late-flowering and its glossy, always healthy foliage, turning red and purple in the autumn. It thrives in any soil but flowers better in one on the dry side. It is an excellent rose for windy positions.
The plant described above is probably an old clone of European gardens. It differs in two respects from R. virginiana as described in American works: it suckers freely, and its nodal prickles are straighter and more slender. In these two respects it resembles R. carolina but it is certainly not that species, though perhaps an intermediate or hybrid between them (such plants occur in the wild). It should be remarked that R. lucida Ehrh., once the established name for this species, was based on plants cultivated in Germany. Ehrhart did not mention the prickles or habit, but R. lucida, as cultivated in the Harbke arboretum, was suckering and had awl-shaped prickles, as in the common garden clone described above (Du Roi, Harbk. Baumzucht, ed. 2, Vol. 2 (1800), p. 564).
R. virginiana is recorded as an escape from gardens in some parts of Europe and was once used for fixing sand-dunes in the Loire estuary.
For R. virginiana var. alba and var. grandiflora, see R. carolina.
R. rapa Bosc (?) R. turgida Pers.; R. lucida fl. pleno Savi; R. virginiana f. plena Rehd. – Turnip Rose. – This rose, often considered to be a double-flowered form of R. virginiana, has been known since the late 18th century, though now only from the many descriptions and portraits, since it may be lost to cultivation. It was a tall plant, sparsely armed, with leaves of a darker green than in R. virginiana as then cultivated. Flowers pink, shaded with violet, paling with age from the centre outwards (so Savi). Sepals pinnately lobed, with a spathulate apex, hence differing from those of R. virginiana. Receptacles turnip-shaped, whence the epithet rapa. It was most probably a hybrid, and the early flowering season – late May or June – supports this suspicion.
Another double-flowered form or hybrid of R. virginiana was figured by Andrews as R. pennsylvanica flore pleno (Roses, Vol. II, t. 102 (1806)). This was a dwarf, suckering rose flowering all the summer. A rose agreeing well with this was cultivated by Canon Ellacombe at Bitton in 1883; as in the Andrews plant the outer petals became bleached in hot weather (Gard. Chron., Vol. 20 (1883), p. 41). For the double-flowered hybrid of R. virginiana still in gardens see ‘Rose d’Amour’, p. 197.
R. ‘Mariae-graebneriae’. – A suckering shrub to 4 or 5 ft high, its stems sparsely armed with curved prickles. Leaves coarsely toothed, colouring in autumn. Flowers clear pink, borne in June and July, then intermittently until autumn. Fruits freely borne. A hybrid of R. virginiana, raised by Zabel at Hannover-Münden about 1880 (Gartenflora 1902, p. 564). The other parent was stated to be R. carolina, which at that time usually meant R. palustris, but possibly the true R. carolina was used. Ascherson, who described this rose, was the co-author with Graebner of a valuable work on the flora of Central Europe.