From “Rosa laevigata and Its Hybrids” in Climbing Roses of the World by Charles Quest-Ritson:
“Rosa laevigata is known as the Cherokee rose, because it has spread over much of the American South. Indeed, it was first described in 1803 from specimens collected in Georgia, where it is now the state flower. The Australian rosarian Susan Irvine (1997) wrote that ‘like the Banksias, it has become part of our landscape. It might eventually achieve wild rose status here too.’ Rosa laevigata is not hardy in New England or central Europe.
“Rosa laevigata… is a vigorous shrub which naturally clambers up trees to a height of 10 m, aided by scattered, strong, reddish brown, hooked prickles. The evergreen leaves have three to five (usually three) leaflets and are brilliant, shiny, dark green, and quite hairless on both sides. The leaflets are variable in size and shape, but usually 4-9 cm long and 2-5 cm wide, hard, leathery, and short stalked. The midribs are sometimes crimson and may also have prickles underneath. The flowers are white, invariably solitary, single, scented (of gardenia), and 6-9 cm across. They are borne on bristly stalks, with bristly receptacles and bristly sepals which persist for a long time…. The handsome golden stamens are very striking. The fruits are 3.5-4.0 cm across, egg shaped, orange or red, and very bristly.
“Rosa laevigata is native to lowland areas of southern China and Indo-China. In warm climates, it is one of the most beautiful of all single roses, especially when covered with its brilliant white flowers, which are large for a species and wonderfully set off by their great boss of yellow stamens and the dark, glossy leaves. It has been little used for hybridising, although a double-flowered form was reported from California in 1900.”
From “American Beauty” in In Search of Lost Roses by Thomas Christopher:
“[When the Cherokee Rose] was adopted in 1916 as the state flower of Georgia; that resolution began: ‘Whereas, the Cherokee Rose, having its origin among the aborigines of the northern portion of the state of Georgia, is indigenous to its soil, and grows with equal luxuriance in every county of the state…’ This is not only poor English, it also runs counter to the opinions of most botanists. This species of rose is common throughout Georgia, as well as the rest of the Southeastern states — the whole area, in fact, once inhabited by the Cherokee Indians….
“Moreover, the rose has been established there for a long time. The first scientific description of it appeared in the Flora Boreali Americana of French botanist Andre Michaux, a work that was published posthumously in 1803. Michaux, who rambled up and down our eastern seaboard for twelve years, collecting plants first for the French monarchy and later for the Republic, wrote of finding the rose he named laevigata in backwoods Georgia….
“He could hardly have missed it, since this plant is not only common, it climbs through the trees to a height as great as fifty feet. A single specimen may spread over an area of ten thousand square feet, bearing in May or June a fragrant shower of golden-centered three-inch white flowers. A spectacular rose, but not a native….
“It’s Chinese, the botanists agree. This species is also common throughout the warmer regions of that country, where it is known as Chin Ying Tzu, the “Golden Cherry,” that is a tribute to the plant’s colorful hips. The first record of its arrival in Europe dates to 1696 — like many of its fellows, it travelled deck-passage on an East India Company merchant-man. How and when it arrived in North America is unknown; how it penetrated to the interior so quickly (if 1696 does mark its introduction to the West) is inconceivable….”
Hello!
This is the second of two posts with photos of a Cherokee Rose (Rosa laevigata) that I took at Oakland Cemetery in March. The first post is Rosa laevigata, the Cherokee Rose (1 of 2), where I described the plant’s botanical characteristics and some of what I learned about its botanical and cultural history. That post showed the Cherokee Rose’s ability to traverse long distances both horizontally and vertically, making observations that it can stretch 30-50 feet evident from this single specimen. In this post, we get a closer look at individual flowers — which are especially striking when they fill the photo frame in groups of two or three emanating from single (or sometimes separate) stems.
As I continued researching the Cherokee Rose, I came across this botanical drawing by Pierre-Joseph Redoute, from the 1821 second volume of his three-book series Les Roses. Here the plant is identified by one of its earlier scientific names Rosa nivea, and by the common name Rosier blanc de Neige, or Snow White Rose — an especially fitting nickname given the pure white, soft, and slightly translucent flowers the Cherokee produces.
Redoute’s interpretation aligns quite well with the excerpt from Climbing Roses of the World by Charles Quest-Ritson that I included at the top of this post, deftly illustrating the placement of flowers, the three- to five-part structure of the leaves, and its slightly curved or hook-shaped thorns. The fruits — “egg-shaped, orange or red, and very bristly” — are likely missing from the drawing since they tend to appear much further down a plant’s stems or canes so might not have been present in Redoute’s subject. You can, however, find a few examples of those in my first post that match Quest-Ritson’s description exactly if you hunt for them. Or look here…
… where one of these interesting structures is near the bottom of the cane. Their presence, I have learned, is part of the lifecycle and reproductive workflow of the Cherokee Rose, and those I found that are distant from this spring’s flowers are likely from the plant’s previous season. These are equivalent to rose hips produced by many members of the Rose or Rosaceae family of plants, but in the Cherokee Rose, their large size (most I saw were about two inches long) and durability make it more likely they’ll persist from one year to the next. You can see a close-up image of one that I took in January of 2022 (so long ago!) on this post, in the first gallery, at a time when I didn’t actually know what they were, and just thought they were photographically fascinating.
In her book A Southern Garden: A Handbook for the Middle South, author Elizabeth Lawrence states that the white Cherokee Rose blooms around April in this region (as we have seen) but may also produce blooms in the fall or as late as December. Of course, I now have a note on my calendar to follow up and check for signs of blooming life as summer ends. It will be a fun new mystery to solve if this plant does produce another round of blooms before winter, though — if not — I can still hunt down some of its spiked hips among the tangled vines and canes.
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
