Sweetbriar rose
Rosa rubiginosa
A dense, arching shrub of the dog rose group, armed with stout hooked prickles mixed with finer bristles, and carrying pinnate leaves whose undersides are covered in sticky glands that smell of apple or stewed fruit when a leaflet is crushed. Deep pink flowers in early summer give way to short, oval scarlet hips. The hips are used for syrup, purée, jelly and tea; the petals are aromatic.
Scrub, hedgerows, chalk and limestone grassland, dunes and railway banks on dry, well-drained ground. Widespread across lowland England, Wales and Ireland, scarcer in Scotland where much of it is naturalised from planting.
The dry hairs packed around the seeds irritate the mouth and gut, so sieve or de-seed hips before eating; the cooked flesh itself is unproblematic. Stout hooked prickles tear skin, and the shrub is common on roadsides and managed hedges, so avoid sprayed verges.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Crushed leaf scent
Rub a leaflet between finger and thumb: a sharp scent of apple or stewed fruit, from glands on the leaf underside. Dog rose leaves are scentless when crushed, so a negative result rules this plant out.
Leaf underside
Densely covered in short stalked glands that feel tacky and show as reddish dots under a hand lens, unlike the smooth, gland-free undersides of dog rose leaves.
Stems and prickles
Stout, flattened, strongly hooked prickles interspersed with smaller straight bristles and glandular hairs on younger growth, rather than the fairly uniform hooked prickles of dog rose.
Hips
Short, oval to nearly round and scarlet, often bristly-glandular at the base, with the sepals still attached and pointing forwards on a ripe hip; dog rose sepals turn back and drop before ripening.
Updated 2026-08-07T20:52:24.619Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Fruit