Rosa horrida Fischer, syn. R. biebersteiniana Lindl., R. turcica Rouy, R. ferox M. Bieb. non Lawrance. A low and dense spreading shrub to 1m, with coarse curved and hooked prickles, usually interspersed with glandular bristles and slender thorns. Leaflets 5-7, less than 2 cm long, glandular beneath but usually smooth above. Petals white, small and narrow to 1.5cm long. Sepals with large lobes, soon falling; fruits glabrous or with a few small thorns. Native of southeast Europe, from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine to Turkey, Armenia, the Caucasus and the Crimea. Hardiness zone 4-5 will survive down to –25°C or lower.

Rosa horrida is one of the less showy of the sweetbriers, with its small, white flowers and hips to 1.6cm long. It is one of a group of small roses which includes R. pulverulenta M. Bieb., syn. R. glutinosa Sibth. & Sm. which has sticky, aromatic leaves, with numerous glands, which are dense and mixed with hairs on the upper surface of the leaf; the flowers are pink, the hips large and glandular, and R. sicula Tratt. which has pink petals, rounded less sticky leaflets and similar hips. A third species, Rosa serafinii Viv. from Corsica, Italy and North Africa has pale pink flowers and smooth fruit. R. iberica Stev. is somewhat larger, with pale pink flowers and glandular, aromatic and sticky leaflets.

Photographed at the Tête d’Or Garden Lyon France.