Friday 4 July 2014
A rose is a
woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species.
They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing or trailing with
stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape
and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows
and reds. The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose
hip. Many of the domestic cultivars do not produce hips, as the flowers are so
tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of
most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa
pimpinellifolia) have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an
outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds"
(technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of
fine, but stiff, hairs. Source
