Family |
Rosaceae
Rosa phoenicia
Boiss.
Rosa phoenicia Boiss.
(Diagn. Pl. Orient. 10: 4, 1849; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 555; Pl. LXXII nº 2; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Shrub, sometimes climbing and reaching several meters in hedges; long, elongated branches, glabrous; prickles relatively spaced, generally strongly curved.
• Leaves: With 5–7 ovate-elliptic leaflets, simply denticulate; upper surface slightly puberulent, lower surface more distinctly so; stipules equal.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers numerous, arranged in cymes of 2–4, grouped in a loose panicle, each subtended by a leaf often reduced to its stipules, forming a navicular blade. Pedicels and hypanthia glabrous or slightly pubescent and glandular. Corolla white, petals reaching or exceeding 2 cm. Styles fused into a column surpassing the stamens.
• Fruit: Ovoid to globose hip, red, glabrous.
• Phenology: Flowers May–June.
• Habitat & elevation: Hedges and woodlands, often common near the coast.
• Lebanese distribution: Saïda, Nahr al-Aouali, Beirut, Antélias, Nahr el-Kelb, Tripoli, ‘Abey, Mansouriyé, Douma, Jamhour, Hasroun, Hasbani, Ta‘naïl, Zahlé, Baalbeck.
• Syrian distribution: Bloudane, Zebdani, Damascus (Damas, Jeramana), Qatana, Mejdel-ech-Chams.
• Native range: East Aegean Islands, Iraq, Lebanon–Syria, Palestine, Turkey (POWO).