Rosa pendulina, (syn. Rosa alpina), the Alpine rose or mountain rose, is a species of wild rose found in the mountains of central and southern Europe. It appears to have survived in glacial refugia in the Alps and Carpathians, and spread out from there. A climbing shrub with deep pink flowers and relatively few thorns, it has had a history of cultivation as an ornamental plant.

Botanical illustration

Description

Rosa pendulina is a climbing (or rambling) shrub between 0.5 and 2m, rarely 3m tall. The flowers are typically semi-doubled and deep pink to fuchsia, brightening towards the center. It can be distinguished from other members of its genus by its relative lack of thorns (prickles), especially higher up on the plant, its oblong fruits (hips) which hang downwards (are pendulous, hence the specific epithet), its hispid peduncles and petioles, and its smooth stems and branches. The chromosome number is 4n = 28.

Ripe hips

Distribution

It prefers to grow in relatively warmer, shadier, and wetter areas alongside streams, in openings in forests, or on rock piles, between 350 and 2,500m above sea level.

It is mostly found in the subalpine zone of the mountains of Central and Southern Europe: the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Alps (at elevations of up to 2300–2600m in the various parts of the range), throughout the Carpathians (up to 1800m in the Tatras), in Czechia and adjacent areas of Germany and Poland, in the Apennines and in the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula (at elevations of 1000–2500m in Bulgaria).

It has been introduced to New England and can be found growing as a garden escapee elsewhere.

Cultivation

Often called by its synonym Rosa alpina, the Alpine rose has been in cultivation for hundreds of years (c.1683), with many varieties that are practically forgotten today. It has contributed genetically to an unknown, but large, number of extant rose cultivars. It flowers early, has a pleasing, strong fragrance, and is nearly thornless, all desirable traits for rose breeders. An undesirable trait is that it has weak pedicels supporting the flowers, which leads to the pendulous habit of the fruits. It is hardy to USDA Zone 4a.

Varieties

Numerous varieties (and even subspecies) were described for R. pendulina and R. alpina (see list of synonyms), but these have all been collapsed into R. pendulina.

Hybrids

Rosa pendulina is said to be the parent of a number of hybrids.

Cultivars

Many of these cultivars are quite old and would be assessed differently using modern standards. Rose fanciers tended to call all sports, chance seedlings, regional variants, natural hybrids, and artificial hybrids "varieties" rather than "cultivars". Some, such as the Boursault roses, would probably be considered Groups today. Simply having some R. pendulina ancestry, such as with the Moomin rose (Rosa 'Tove Jansson'), does not make a rose a cultivar of R. pendulina.

  • 'Amadis' (Crimson Boursault. The Boursaults are said to be R. chinensis × R. pendulina with some uncertainty)
  • 'Bourgogne'
  • 'Calypso' (Blush Boursault)
  • 'Harstad'
  • 'Inermis', also called 'Morletti' or 'Morlettii'
  • 'Mount Everest'
  • 'Nana'
  • 'Plena' (could be 'Inermis')