Indicator Plants

• Shrub
• Found in a variety of habitats, from open to wooded and dry to moist
• Low to middle elevations

• Form: Spindly, up to 1.5 m tall
• Other: usually armed with numerous soft, straight prickles, young stems may only be covered with tiny, stalked glands
• Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, compound (usually 5, 7 or 9 per leaf), leaflets toothed and 1-4 cm long
• Flowers: pale pink, small (1-2 cm), 5 petals, stamens crowded and numerous, usually borne singly near branch tips
• Fruit: orange to red, pear-shaped rose hips that nearly always lack distinctive crown of dried sepals

• If fruits are unavailable, I think the best way to confirm baldhip rose is to feel the prickles, which should be soft and bend to the (cautious!) touch. A less potentially dangerous way is to look for curved prickles (likely an introduced variety) or large prickles only present at leaf nodes (Rosa nutkana) , but Rosa gymnocarpa can be difficult to distinguish from Rosa acicularis where their ranges overlap without feeling the prickles

• Most parts of the plant were used by a variety of aboriginal coastal groups:
  • young leaves and twigs were brewed into tea
  • stems were used during ritual dances
  • leaves and bark were dried and smoked
  • hips were eaten occasionally as a famine food

E-Flora of BC - Rosa gymnocarpa

Douglas, G.W. et al (Editors). 1998-2002. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Volumes 1 to 8. B.C. Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, and B.C. Min. For., Victoria, B.C.

Pojar, J. and A. MacKinnon. 2014. Plants of Coastal British Columbia Including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. B.C. Ministry of Forestry and Lone Pine Publishing. Vancouver, B.C.