ROSA PRATINCOLA GREENE 



EVELYN ENSIGN 



There is more or less confusion as to the name and description 

 of the wild rose of the prairies. A study of this problem was 

 undertaken more particularly with reference to our Iowa forms. 



R. PRATINCOLA GREENE 



R. prat in cola Greene. 



R. Arkansana Auct. 



Stems low, usually very prickly ; leaflets seven to eleven, rhachises 

 usually pubescent ; inflorescence commonly corymbose ; sepals fre- 

 quently connivent ; hypanthiums and pedicels usually naked. 



. The name for our commonest wild rose, the one found on the 

 prairies everywhere, has not been unanimously agreed upon. Small 

 and Britton call it R. Arkansana. In the latest editions of the Brit- 

 ton and Brown and the Gray manuals R. prat in cola has replaced 

 the R. Arkansana of former editions. 



The original description of R. Arkansana was made by Porter 

 in 1874. He thought that it might be an extreme form of R. hlanda, 

 but it differed in so many points that he ventured to describe it as 

 new. His description is as follows: "Stem stout, erect, leafy, 

 one foot high, glabrous and glaucous, armed with weak, deciduous 

 prickles; leaflets 9-11, ovate and oblong-ovate 1 in. long or more, 

 acute or obtuse, glabrous or sharply serrate, midrib and long stipules 

 somewhat prickly and minutely glandular ; the floivers numerous, 

 terminal corymbed on peduncles about 1 in. long; fruit globose, 

 smooth, glaucous ; calyx segmented, ovate, reflexed in fruit, with 

 terminal and sometimes lateral appendages, more or less glandular 

 and tomentose, pubescent on the margins ; petals broadly obcordate 

 or emarginate, longer than the calyx segments, rose-color; flower 

 2 in. in diameter. Canon City, Colo." 



This description does apply to our prairie roses better than that 

 of R. hlanda and as a result the wild roses found on the prairies 

 extending from Minnesota to Missouri and from West Texas to 

 Colorado were named R. Arkansana. 



