Saturday, March 24, 2018

Chestnut Rose

"Chestnuts roasting over the open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose."
Wait, wrong season, wrong Chestnut. 
The Chestnut rose is a rose from China that has a spiny receptacle, the part that becomes the hip, that resembles a Chestnut husk. The Chestnut rose is slightly unusual, because the double form has the scientific name with just two parts, and the single form's scientific has three parts. The scientific names are Rosa roxburghii (sometimes shown with f. roxburghii after the first roxburghii) and Rosa roxburghii normalis. The leaves are made up of 7 to 9 leaflets, instead of the normal 5. There are normally two thorns sticking out below where the leaves and stems meet. 
I have seen examples of the Chestnut rose being allowed to grow untamed and huge, but I have also seen it kept trimmed and a manageable shrub. The bark of this rose can start to change color and even flake a little when it is older. There may be blooms during the summer and fall. 

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