Wild rose / Dog rose / Rosehip / Bird briar / Hip tree / Herb patience / Witch’s briar

Rosa canina L.

MEANING

The name “dog rose” refers to the rose bush’s thorns which are shaped like dogs’ teeth and the name “tapaculos” (a name also used in Spanish speaking countries for this wild rose) refers to the fruit’s astringent character.

DESCRIPTION

The rose is a thorny, evergreen bush of the Rosaceae family, which is native to Europe, North-East Africa and Western Asia. It was also introduced to North America and other parts of the world and it is widely distributed today.

The bush measures up to 2m in height, with drooping green stems that are covered in small, strong and curved thorns. The leaves are made up of 5 to 7 oval serrated leaflets.

The pale-pink or white flowers, either individual or in corymbs, measure 4 to 6cm in diameter. They have five petals and develop into a deep red oval cynarrhodion-type fruit called a rosehip, between 1.5 and 2cm in size. These bushes blossom from May to July and produce fruit at the end of the summer or beginning of autumn.

COMPOSITION

It is the fruit that is mainly used, especially for its richness in vitamins: carotenoids, vitamin P and most of all vitamin C.

PROPERTIES AND USES

They contribute to the treatment of vitamin C and are used to help digestion, anti-diarrhoeal and anti-oedematous and, as in the case of eye-drops, they are anti-ulcerous.

DID YOU KNOW ?

During the Second World War, British scholars were assigned the task of collecting rosehips. Rosehip syrup was made with the fruit, an excellent source of vitamin C, and it replaced the importation of oranges that was prevented by the German naval U-boats blocking the English Channel.