Rosa virginiana
Copyright 2004, DotRose.com, Henry H. and Catherine C. Hartley
Virginia Rose is one of
many rose species in our area, including Swamp Rose and
Multiflora Rose. Like all roses, Virginia Rose is a
shrub,
with many spreading branches. Virginia Rose can grow up
to six feet tall. It has hairy stems with curved thorns.
Leaves
are split into smaller leaflets.
Each leaflet is dark green with teeth, up to 2 1/2 inches
long. Leaves turn purplish-red in the fall. Virginia Rose grows in
thickets,
meadows,
clearings, shores, and roadsides. Copyright, Mark Brand,
UConn Plant Database Tripple Brook
Farm The flowers
of Virginia Rose are pink with yellow centers. Each flower
has five petals and is 2 to 3 inches wide. This plant blooms
from June to August. Many insects visit rose
blooms for nectar,
and the plant depends on them to help pollination.
Bumble bees, honey bees, and certain beetle species are the
main pollinators. Once flowers have been
pollinated, they die, and fruit
takes their place. Rose fruits are called "hips." Virginia
Rose hips are red and look a lot like a large berry. Rose
hips are 1/2 inch wide and stay on the plant through the
winter. Rose hips are a great
food source for many animals, including: American Robin,
Northern Mockingbird, Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, Cedar
Waxwig, Eastern Bluebird, American Goldfinch, Northern
Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, Song Sparrow, Striped Skunk, and
White-footed Mouse. Rose leaves are eaten by
certain species of moths, butterflies, beetles, aphids,
leafhoppers, and thrips. Leaf-cutting Bees, Japanese
Beetles, and European Earwigs all eat rose leaves. Mourning
Cloak and Red-spotted Purple are two butterflies whose
caterpillars
munch leaves. Other insects bore into
rose stems. These include carpenter bees, some beetle
species, and sawflies. Gall wasps lay their eggs
in rose stems. When wasp larvae hatch, they munch on the
inside of the stem, causing galls
to grow. This makes the wasp a parasite. White-tailed Deer,
Eastern Cottontail, and Beaver all browse
(eat leaves and twigs)
on rose. Stems are eaten by Meadow Voles. Tripple Brook
Farm Tripple Brook
Farm Rose thickets create
great cover
for birds and other animals. Some bird species that nest in
Virginia Rose include Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird,
Northern Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, and Yellow Warbler.
Mammals
using rose for cover range from small to big, including
voles, shrews, squirrels, woodchucks, fox, opossum, and
deer.
Reptiles, amphibians,
insects, spiders, and other small animals can hide among
rose branches and leaves also. Virginia Rose grows
quickly and can crowd out other plants. Powdery Mildew is a
parasitic fungus
which sometimes affects rose.
Copyright, Mark Brand, UConn Plant Database