Rosaceae FAMILY

Rosa gigantea

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

There is a layer of hairs around the seeds just beneath the flesh of the fruit. These hairs can cause irritation to the mouth and digestive tract if ingested.

Botanical Description

Rosa gigantea is a very vigorous, deciduous to evergreen shrub with long, spiny branches that can be 15 metres long in cooler climates and up to 25 metres long in warm climates. These branches scramble over the ground, climbing into the surrounding vegetation and attaching themselves by means of their thorns. The plant can be more or less deciduous in cold winters The plant is harvested from the wild as a local source of foods and medicines. The edible fruit is sometimes sold in local markets in the Himalayas[ 183 Title Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Publication Author Facciola. S. Publisher Kampong Publications Year 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 Description Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world. ]. The plant is commonly grown as an ornamental.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate; tropical

Native RangeE. Asia - southern China, Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern Vietnam.

HabitatRavines and grassy hills, thickets and wood margins in W. Hupeh[ 109 Title Plantae Wilsonae. Vol 1 - 3 Publication Author Wilson. E. H. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher University Press; Cambridge. Year 1911 - 1917 ISBN Description Details of the palnts collected by the plant collector E. H. Wilson on his travels in China. Gives some habitats. Not for the casual reader. It can be downloaded from the internet. ].