Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Cinnamon Rose
Rosa majalis
- Family: Rose Family – Rosaceae
- Height: 0.2–2 m (ca. 0.5–7 ft.)
- Flower: Regular, large, 4–5 cm (1.5–2 in.) across. Sepals 5, entire. Petals five, pink, notched. Carpels free, many, styles hairy. Stamens numerous. Flowers solitary, stalks usu. hairless.
- Leaves: Alternate. Stipulate, stalked, odd-pinnate. Leaflets five to seven, 1.5–4.5 cm (0.6–1.8 in.) long, elliptic, serrate, with sparsely hairy upper surface and densely hairy underside.
- Fruit: An oval to rounded, hairless, red hip containing several achenes.
- Habitat: Lush broadleaf woods, rock outcrops, sparse waterside woods, roadsides, and commons. Also an ornamental.
- Flowering time: June–July.
The roses and briars (Rosa spp.) are large-flowered, prickly shrubs. Their leaves are imparipinnate. The actual fruits are achenes which, however, are not visible, but enclosed by the enlarged receptacle, the whole being called a hip.
The genus comprises between 100 and 250 species, depending on the defining criteria. They are distributed over the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. Roses have been cultivated in China and the eastern Mediterranean at least for 4,000–5,000 years.
The cinnamon rose is an erect, suckering shrub. The stems are densely covered with thin, needle-like bristles sparsely mixed with hooked prickles. The cinnamon rose may also grow on dry sites staying low like a dwarf shrub but still flowering vigorously. It is not demanding as regards soil type. The very similar Karelian rose can be distinguished by its glandular-hairy flower-stalks and absence of hooked prickles.
There are cultivars of the cinnamon rose which have doubled flowers. Such are R. majalis ´Foecundissima´, an old ornamental, and R. majalis ´Tornedal´, a hardy variety thriving even in Northern Finland.
