About Rosa sempervirens L.
Rosa sempervirens L. is an evergreen plant with glossy, compound-pinnate leaves. Most plants grow as bushy shrubs that reach up to 1.5 meters tall, while climbing forms can grow up to 3.5 meters high. It typically grows in hedges or forms thickets. Its stems have only a few slightly curved prickles. Its leaves are imparipinnate, and generally have five leaflets, though they sometimes have seven. The leaflets are lanceolate-oval, shiny on the upper surface, glabrous, with tightly packed edges, and measure 2 to 5 cm long. These relatively leathery, dark green leaves persist through most of the winter. The flowers are white, simple in form, slightly fragrant, 3 to 5 cm in diameter, and grouped in sparse corymbs. They bloom in spring and early summer, from May to July. When ripe, the fruits are globular or ovoid, orange-red, and measure about 1 cm long. This evergreen shrub mostly grows in maquis or sheltered valleys. Its native range includes mainland Greece, some Aegean islands including Crete, the Adriatic coast of the Balkans, Italy, islands of the Western Mediterranean, some coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula, and France. In France, it occurs up to 700 meters elevation in the Maritime Alps, and extends north to the southernmost parts of Brittany. It also grows in northern Morocco and Algeria, with more isolated populations in the Atlas Mountains and European Turkey.
