ROSA PHOENICEA Boiss.
A large, climbing rose with stems to 6m, with numerous thorns. Leaflets bluish-green, usually 5, obovate or oval, very short-stalked, with broad, blunt teeth, sparsely hairy above, densely short-hairy beneath, 2-4.5cm long, 1.5-2.7cm wide, the rhachis with thorns. Stipules with fine gland-tipped teeth. Pedicels 1-3.5cm, pubescent and with stalked glands; bracts finely toothed and hairy. Flowers 3-5cm across, in a dense umbel or solitary on short shoots, white, well-scented. Outer sepals pinnatifid, 1.3-2cm long. Styles not hairy, exserted to around 6mm. Hips 1.1.2cm long, usually smooth.
Hedges in moist places by streams and ditches at up to 1100m. In northeastern Greece and European Turkey to Lebanon, Rodhos and Cyprus. In southeastern Turkey, inland as far east as Siirt. Zone 6.
Rosa phoenicia is common in damp areas along the coastal plain and on low hills in southern and western Turkey, where it flowers in late May and early June. The hairy leaves and coarse, blunt teeth are characteristic, and usually distinguish it from Rosa sempervirens which has shining evergreen leaves. Intermediates are found where the two grow together, and the hybrid R. phoenicea x R. canina is recorded on Kos and by the sea of Marmara. Introduced before 1885.
Zone 7, will survive down to –15°C.