Rosa minutifolia

Rosa minutifolia[1][2][3] is a species in the genus Rosa. It is also known by the common names Baja rose,[4] Baja littleleaf rose,[2] and small-leaved rose.[3]

Rosa minutifolia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Rosa
Species:
R. minutifolia
Binomial name
Rosa minutifolia
Rosa minutifolia in the Huntington Desert Garden.

Description

Dense shrub or thicket-forming perennial, found in chaparral plant communities. In fact, it is exceptionally drought tolerant, particularly if given a thick layer of organic mulch; under drought stress the plant defoliates, exposing a small thicket of woody, and extremely spiny stems.[5]

Height/spread: 30–100 cm (1m) high and wide.[3]

Stems: Stems are low and arching,[2] with many, generally unpaired, straight, slender prickles measuring 2-12mm in length.[3]

Leaves: The leaves of Rosa minutifolia are the smallest of the genus Rosa,[2] with the terminal leaflets measuring 3-6mm long and wide. Leaves are round, widest near the middle, tip shape to obtuse, with toothed margins about halfway to the midvein, glandless. The leaf axil is finely short-hairy and sparsely glandular. Leaflets are hairy and number 5-7.[3]

Flowers: Inflorescences are generally one-flowered, pedicels are hairy and glandless, and measure to about 2-10mm in length. Flowers have a hypanthium to around 3mm wide. Densely prickly neck to 2mm wide. Sepals have toothed lateral lobes and are glandless, with the tip generally being about equal to the body, which is also toothed. Flowers typically contain 10 pistils each. Petals measure 10-20mm[3] and are deep pink,[2][3] pale pink, or rarely white. Flowers appear in late winter,[2] February–April.[3] R. minutifolia is the earliest flowering of native California roses.[2]

Fruit: Fruit shape is typically spherical, about 5mm in width. Sepals persistent, erect to spreading; achenes unknown.[2]

Distribution and range

Native to the chaparral plant community of northern Baja California,[2][3] where wild populations are extant, and San Diego County, California, where it is now extinct in the wild.[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rosa minutifolia.

Cultivation

Rosa minutifolia is grown in gardens as an ornamental.[2]

Etymology and naming

'Minutifolia'– 'with very small leaves' from 'minuti', meaning 'minute', and 'folium', meaning 'leaves'. 'Rosa' from the Latin name 'rosa' meaning 'rose'.[6]

The name Rosa minutifolia was previously disputed, as some believed it to be in its own genus, Hesperhodos.[7] However, the name has since been resolved.[1]

References
  1. Plants of the World Online. (2020). Rosa minutifolia Engelm. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science. [online] Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:222367-2 [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020].
  2. Carol Bornstein, David Fross, Bart O'Brien 2007. "California Native Plants for the Garden". Cachuma Press. ISBN 0962850586 (paperback) ISBN 0962850594 (hardcover). pp 173
  3. Baldwin, B. G., D. H. Goldman, D. J. Keil, R. Patterson, T. J. Rosatti, and D. H. Wilken, editors. 2012. "The Jepson Manual: vascular plants of California", second edition. University of California press, Berkeley.
  4. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Rosa minutifolia". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  5. Tschudy, Clayton. "Pacific Horticulture | Valuable Garden Plants from Baja, California". Pacific Horticulture. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  6. Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521866453 (hardback), ISBN 9780521685535 (paperback). pp 260, 333
  7. "Rosa minutifolia Engelm. — The Plant List". Theplantlist.org. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
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