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- Rosaceae
- Rosa
- Rosa mollis
Rosa mollis — soft downy rose
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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
New England distribution
Adapted from BONAP data
Native: indigenous.
Non-native: introduced (intentionally or unintentionally); has become naturalized.
County documented: documented to exist in the county by evidence (herbarium specimen, photograph). Also covers those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).
State documented: documented to exist in the state, but not documented to a county within the state. Also covers those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).
Note: when native and non-native populations both exist in a county, only native status is shown on the map.
Found this plant? Take a photo and post a sighting.
Characteristics
- Habitat
- terrestrial
- New England state
-
- New Hampshire
- Vermont
- Growth form
- the plant is a shrub (i.e., a woody plant with several stems growing from the base)
- Leaf type
- the leaf blade is compound (i.e., made up of two or more discrete leaflets
- Leaves per node
- there is one leaf per node along the stem
- Leaf blade edges
- the edge of the leaf blade has teeth
- Leaf duration
- the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)
- armature on plant
-
- the plant does not have spines, prickles, or thorns
- the plant has spines, prickles, or thorns
- Leaf stalk
- the leaves have leaf stalks
- Fruit type (general)
-
- the fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe
- the fruit is fleshy
- Bark texture
- the bark of an adult plant is thin and smooth
- Twig winter color
-
- green
- red
- 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
-
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 (i.e., 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 (i.e., 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
-
- New Hampshire
- 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
In New England
Distribution
- Connecticut
- absent
- Maine
- absent
- Massachusetts
- absent
- New Hampshire
- present
- Rhode Island
- absent
- Vermont
- present
Conservation status
None
From Flora Novae Angliae dichotomous key
11. Rosa mollis Sm. E
soft downy rose. NH, VT. Fields, roadsides. This species is somewhat similar to Rosa sherardii. Both species belong to the Rosa tomentosa Sm. complex of Europe that is identified by its tomentose and glandular leaflets. Rosa mollis has horizontally spreading, straight prickles, fleshy sepal bases, and an orifice to the hypanthium that is ½ or more the diameter of the disk (i.e., the area at the summit of the hypanthium within the sepal bases). Rosa sherardii has slightly curved prickles, thin and chartaceous sepal bases, and an orifice to the hypanthium that is ca. ⅓ the diameter of the disk.
Native to North America?
No
Sometimes confused with
- Rosa sherardii:
- prickles slightly curved, sepal usually pinnately lobed, the bases thin and chartaceous, and orifice of hypanthium ca. 1/3 the diameter of the disk (vs. R. mollis, with prickles straight, horizontally spreading, sepals entire, the bases fleshy, and orifice of the hypanthium 1/2 or more the diameter of the disk).