Rosa abyssinica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rosa abyssinica | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rosaceae |
| Genus: | Rosa |
| Species: | R. abyssinica |
| Binomial name | |
| Rosa abyssinica | |
| Synonyms | |
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Rosa abyssinica var. microphylla Crép. | |
Rosa abyssinica[1] is the only rose native to Africa. Europeans first learned of the rose in the writings of 19th-century Scottish botanist Robert Brown.[2] Rosa abyssinica is included in the genus Rosa, and the family Rosaceae.[3] No subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life.[3]
Rosa abyssinica is a prickly evergreen shrub, creeping or often climbing, capable of forming a small tree up to 23 feet (7.0 meters) tall. It has a few prickles on the stem, slightly curved from a wide base and all similar. It has many variable features. The leaves are compound and leathery. It has 3 pairs leaflets plus one at the tip, each narrowly ovate from .5 to 2 inches (1.3 to 5.1 centimetres) tip sharp, edge toothed, on a short stalk which is winged by the leafy stipules. Flowers are of fragrant white-pale yellow, and are usually 3 to 20 in dense heads, each stalked, the sepals long, narrow and hairy, soon fall, and have 5 petals about 2 cm long, tip rounded to square, with many stamens. The fruits are green at first, but later ripen to orange-red. They are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, fleshy and edible with seed within.[4] It has been described as a "big prickly 'dog rose.’”[5]
Geographical distribution
Rosa abyssinica is mainly found in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia,[6] Somalia and the Sudan.[7] It is common in the Ethiopian highlands and the mountains of Yemen across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, a distribution paralleled by Primula verticillata and a few other plants.[5] It commonly forms thickets in upland dry evergreen forests, margins, clearings, upland bushland, rocky places, and riparian formations.
