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• Rosa mollis

Rosa mollis — soft downy rose

Facts

Soft downy rose gets its common and scientific name ("mollis" means "soft") from its soft, hairy leaves. If you turn over the leaves and inspect them with a hand lens, you can see tiny rust-colored glands that emit a resiny odor. The pink to purplish flowers, to 2 inches (5 cm) across, bloom in June and July.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are three or more scales on the winter bud, and they overlap like shingles, with one edge covered and the other edge exposed

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Leaf scar arrangement

  there is one leaf scar per node on the stem or twig

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

• Flowers

  Carpels fused

  • the carpel is solitary or (if 2 or more) the carpels are not fused to one another
  • the carpels are fused to one another

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  pink

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Hypanthium present

  the flower has a hypanthium

  Inflorescence type

  • the inflorescence has only one flower on it
  • the inflorescence is a corymb (with long lower branches and shorter upper branches, giving it a more or less flat-topped look)

  Number of pistils

  6 or more

  Ovary position

  the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes two cycles of petal- or sepal-like structures

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Sepal tip glands

  there are glands at the tips of the sepal lobes

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  the sepals are separate from one another

  Stamen number

  13 or more

  Stamen position relative to petals

  NA

  Stamens fused

  the stamens are not fused to one another

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  • NA
  • red

  Fruit tissue origin

  the hypanthium of the flower becomes part of the fruit

  Fruit type (general)

  • the fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe
  • the fruit is fleshy

  Fruit type (specific)

  • the fruit is an achene (dry, usually 1-seeded, does not separate or split open at maturity)
  • the fruit is an aggregate (composed of multiple fused ovaries from one flower)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Sap color

  the sap is clear and watery

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  there are no stalked glands on the fruit

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant is a shrub (a woody plant with several stems growing from the base)

• Leaves

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is truncate (ends abruptly in a more or less straight line as though cut off)

  Leaf blade base symmetry

  the leaf blade base is symmetrical

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade flatness

  the leaf is flat (planar) at the edges

  Leaf blade hairs

  • at least some of the hairs on the leaf blade are reddish-brown, and they do not have glands
  • at least some of the hairs on the leaf blade have glands at their tips
  • the leaf blade has tangled or woolly-looking hairs, without glands

  Leaf blade scales

  there are no scales on the leaf blades

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is elliptic (widest near the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is oblong (rectangular but with rounded ends)

  Leaf blade texture

  the leaf blade is coriaceous (has a firm, leathery texture)

  Leaf blade translucent dots

  there are no translucent dots on the leaf blade

  Leaf duration

  the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)

  Leaf form

  the plant is broad-leaved (with broadly flattened leaf blades)

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf midrib glands

  the midrib of the leaf blade has glands on the upper surface

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf teeth

  • the leaf blade margin has teeth, which themselves have smaller teeth on them
  • the leaf blade margin is serrate (with forward-pointing) or dentate (with outward-pointing) with medium-sized to coarse teeth

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  NA

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is compound (made up of two or more discrete leaflets

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf is compound, with three leaflets

  Stipules

  the plant has stipules

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  the bark of an adult plant is thin and smooth

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  NA

  Pith shape

  the outline of the pith in a twig is roughly round

  Twig bloom

  the twig has bloom on it

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig winter color

  • green
  • red

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  • the plant does not have spines, prickles, or thorns
  • the plant has spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae