Roses, Wild and Moreso

I've been very busy lately with the new full-time job and the ongoing efforts in my yard and garden areas. Unfortunately, this means my blog has drifted back to things I think about but don't spend much time on.

I did get to spend a recent weekend camping and hiking with the love of my life and some friends. I took lots of photos that will likely be scattered through several less-intensive biology posts than I started the blog with. I expect to do longer-form postings and have several that are in the works, but they may become less common until I get some of the house/yard duties done with.

So, what is that lovely flower you've been looking at in the photos at left? It is a wild rose I found growing in Devil's Lake State Park, just south of Baraboo, WI. It produces small white flowers in large numbers. Those small flowers are followed later by equally small rose hips (at right). The species grows wild over much of the USA, but it is only here because we brought it from its native range in eastern Asia. The large numbers of flowers produced in each cluster give it its name, Rosa multiflora.

The tiny rose-hips are spread by many small birds and the stupendous number of the fruit that a mature plant can produce helps to ensure that it grows densely (and spreads) whenever it is given the chance.

I'm somewhat interested in what a cross between R. multiflora and some smaller rose (like the presumed native rose at right, also from Devil's Lake) might look like, as well as the mix of traits that would crop up in the F2 generation.

I have plenty of interesting rose seeds already that I need to grow, so I probably don't need to start collecting breeding projects for them just yet.


References:

• Devil's Lake State Park: dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/devilslake/
  
• Rosa multiflora: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_multiflora
• Chromosomes and breeding in Rosa: bulbnrose.x10.mx/Roses/Hurst/Hurst_1928.html
• Wisconsin shrubs: www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/shrubs/shrub_list_by_common.htm