ROSA ACICULARIS 
Alaska, and reaching southward to the Altai Mountains, but not to 
the Himalaya. In Europe, Japan and North America it is rare. 
In habit it is an erect, vigorous bush from six to eight feet high, with 
branches and stems generally armed with slender prickles. It was 
brought to England from Siberia by Mr. Thomas Bell. 
It was first mentioned by J. G. Gmelin in 1768 ^ as “ Rosa non 
spinosa fructu turbinato,” but it was Lindley who first described it as 
a distinct species in his Monograph. He based his description, how- 
ever, upon plants growing in Mr. Sabine’s garden at North Mimms 
in Hertfordshire, which had doubtless lost some of their distinctive 
characters. The result has been a certain confusion among continental 
botanists as to the true form of Lindley s plant. This is not a matter 
for much surprise, when we take into consideration the wide area over 
which Rosa acicularis is distributed and the great variation in the species 
to which such differing geographical conditions would give rise. Crepin 
even suggested that Rosa acicularis might prove to be a circumpolar 
type. It has by some authors been referred to Rosa alpina L., 
notably in the first instance by Pallas in 1784, but, allowing certain 
affinities with Rosa alpina, it is between Rosa cimianwniea L. and 
Rosa blanda Ait. that it must be placed. In North America it is 
extremely difficult to draw the line between forms of Rosa acicularis 
and Rosa blanda. 
The chief merit of Rosa acicidaris as a garden or woodland plant 
lies in its earliness ; it is the first Rose to come into leaf, and its flowers 
are among the first to open. It is perfectly hardy and easy to naturalize, 
and in autumn the handsome lonQf scarlet fruits are brilliant in colour 
and remain long on the plant. 
The great variation to which the fruit of Rosa aciculaids is subject 
can best be appreciated by comparing the accompanying drawings, 
which have been chosen to illustrate the two extremes. 
^ Flora Sibirica, vol. iii. p. 177. 
146 
