Rugosa rose
Rosa rugosa
A dense, suckering shrub rose reaching about 1.5 m, with thick, deeply wrinkled leaflets and stems bristled from tip to base. Large single flowers, magenta-pink or white and strongly scented, open in flushes from early summer, followed by squat glossy orange-red hips about the size of a cherry tomato. Introduced from east Asia and long naturalised on sandy coasts; the petals flavour syrups and vinegars, and the unusually thick-fleshed hips make good purée.
Planted and well naturalised on sand dunes, shingle and coastal banks, and much used in roadside and car park landscaping, spreading by rhizome into neighbouring scrub and grassland. Commonest around eastern and northern British coasts, scattered in Ireland.
Not toxic, but the fine hairs surrounding the seeds inside each hip irritate the mouth and gut, so halve and scrape the hips or cook and sieve them. Stems are bristled to the base, so gloves help. As an invasive non-native, do not carry cuttings, hips or rooted suckers to fresh ground.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Habit
A dense, low thicket to around 1.5 m, spreading by rhizome so that plants form broad patches rather than single arching stems. On dunes it often builds continuous mounded stands over open sand.
Stems
Covered in fine straight bristles and prickles of mixed sizes, right down to ground level, with no bare stretches. This alone separates it from the wild hedgerow roses, which carry scattered stout hooked thorns on largely smooth stems.
Leaves
Five to nine leaflets, dark green and glossy, with the veins strongly impressed so the upper surface looks wrinkled and quilted; the underside is downy. The wrinkling is visible at arm's length and holds even on shaded growth.
Flowers
Single flowers 6–9 cm across with five broad petals, deep magenta-pink or white, and a strong sweet scent. They come in repeated flushes from early summer to autumn, so open flowers and ripe hips are often on the plant together.
Hips
Squat and flattened rather than oval, up to about 25 mm wide, bright orange-red with the sepals still attached at the top. The flesh is thick for a rose, which is why they are worth picking, but the seeds sit in a dense mat of irritant hairs.
Updated 2026-08-07T20:41:51.557Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Flower