Vigorous, deciduous scrambler with white to cream flowers which have golden anthers. The flowers are usually in small bunches of 3 or 4 at the end of the twigs. Blooms later than the Dog Rose and for longer. Also the leaves are smaller than those of the Dog Rose, the prickles are also smaller and the flowers less fragrant. Another difference is that the hips are more globular
The alternate leaves have 5 - 7 leaflets, 10 - 35 mm long which have saw-edged marginal teeth and are often hairy on the main vein beneath. Large, leafy stipules which run up the leaf stalks, are about 10 mm long.
Field-rose is a deciduous shrub, up to 2 m in height which spreads by suckering and putting out slender arching stems into woodland and woodland margins. It also grows along hedges on neutral, lime-rich and heavy clay soils.The long scrambling stems are often purple-tinged and carry slender, only slightly curved, prickles on a base about 5mm long. The hips are a favorite food of birds in winter.
