Rosa rubiginosa (Sweet briar or Eglantine Rose; syn. R. eglanteria) is a species of rose native to Europe and western Asia, from France and the British Isles north to southern Scandinavia and east to western Russia and Turkey.
It is a dense deciduous shrub 2 - 3m high and across, with the stems bearing numerous hooked prickles. The foliage has a strong apple-like fragrance. The leaves are pinnate, 5 - 9 cm long, with 5 - 9 rounded to oval leaflets with a serrated margin, and numerous glandular hairs. The flowers have five petals being pink with a white base, and the numerous stamens yellow; the flowers are produced in clusters of 2 - 7 together, from late spring to mid summer. The fruit is a globose to oblong red hip.
Etymology
The name 'eglantine' derives from Latin aculeatus (thorny), by way of old French aiglant. 'Sweet' refers to the apple fragrance of the foliage, while 'briar' (also sometimes 'brier') is an old Anglo-Saxon word for any thorny shrub (Vedel & Lange 1960).
Cultivation and uses
In addition to its pink flowers, it is valued for its scent, and the hips that form after the flowers and persist well into the winter.
