Wild roses grow on shrubs from a few decimeters to a few meters tall, with prickly branches and pinnate (feather-like) compound leaves. Their flowers are sweetly scented with numerous stamens and pistils – usually yellow – and five broad radiating petals that bloom white (rare) to deep pink depending on species, and often on the individual flower.
Wild rose hips, the plants’ fruiting bodies, form once the flowers quit their bloom. These can be round, oblong or pear-shaped and range from orange to crimson. All are firm and composed of hairy seeds surrounded by edible flesh.
Wild Rose Taxonomy
Here’s the basic taxonomy of roses:
Kingdom: Plantae (plants)
Division: Magnoliophyta (flowering plants)
Class: Magnoliopsida (dicots - seeds produce two leaves when they sprout)
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae (rose family)
Genus: Rosa (roses)
Despite the “rosy” nomenclature, only species contained in the genus Rosa can be commonly identified as roses. Other genera in the Rose family and order go by other names, and few of them smell as sweet.
North American wild roses account for a number of species in the genus. Depending on the source there are anywhere from a dozen to a hundred rose species native to the continent. Sorting out the taxonomy of wild roses is tough because of the similarities between species and because roses hybridize easily, forming new species and sub-species continually.
Fortunately, the question is academic. The leaves, bark, petals and hips of all wild rose species are edible, and misidentification is not a critical error.
Wild Roses as Food
Harvesting wild plants and animals requires knowledge and respect, and ignorance is no excuse for over-picking. Ethical pickers avoid sensitive habitats and all but the most abundant species. They take a small portion of what’s in front of them, learn how to help propagate species they take from and understand and abide by local harvesting laws.
When picked wisely, wild roses can be considered an ethical harvest through much of North America. They grow well in poor and disturbed soil, one habitat that isn’t endangered here. Still, they are a major food source for many birds, including some species of thrushes, waxwings and cardinals; they also provide nutrition for squirrels, coyotes, black bears and most North American members of the deer family. Take only what you need.
Wild rose hips are especially nutritious, containing antioxidants, essential fatty acids and lots of vitamins and minerals. Only a few, fresh or dried, contain the recommended daily intake of vitamin C.
The hairy seeds of wild rose hips can irritate the digestive system and removing them for cooking can be labor-intensive. The easiest way to prepare hips is to steep them whole in hot water for tea, or simply leave them on the bush for winter trail food, to sweeten as the season progresses. If you have the time and a big enough harvest, check out Bob Krumm’s Rocky Mountain Berry Book (Falcon Press, 1998) for wild rose recipes.
Other Uses
All parts of the wild rose plant have been used in herbal medicine to relieve, among other ailments, a wide range of digestive and gynecological complaints. Some First Nations peoples used their branches for arrows and as pipe stems, and the seeds have been used by mischievous children for itching powder.
Because of their beautiful, delicate fragrance wild rose petals make great infusions and additions to potpurri.
Bibliography
Kershaw, Linda et al. Plants of the Rocky Mountains. Lone Pine Publishing, 1998.
Elias, Thomas S. and Peter A. Dykeman. Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide. Sterling Books, 1990.
Forey, Pamela. Wild Flowers of North America. JG Press, 1998.
Wilkinson, Kathleen. Trees and Shrubs of Alberta: A Habitat Field Guide. Lone Pine Publishing, 1990.
Holroyd, Geoffrey L. and Howard Conybeare. The Compact Guide to Birds of the Rockies. Lone Pine Publishing, 1989.
