Rosa agrestis Savi
R. sepium Thuill.
Eng.: Small-leaved sweet-briar. Spa.: Rosal silvestre, escaramujo. Fre.: Rosier agreste, églantier. Ara.: Ward, werd er zerub. Tam.: Tikhfert.
Shrub, deciduous, up to 1(3) m in height. Stems green or reddish, almost climbing, with short and hooked prickles, widely spaced (sometimes absent), all homogeneous. Leaves with strong apple smell, with 5-7 leaflets [(1.5)2-2.8(3.5) × 0.7-1.5(2.3) cm], ± elliptic-lanceolate, acute, with cuneiform base and twice serrate margin, glandular (with chestnut glands), glabrous or slightly pubescent on the upper side, pubescent on the underside. Petiole and rachis glabrous or slightly pubescent, with some glands and small prickles. Stipules twice longer than wide (or slightly longer). Inflorescence corymbiform, rarely solitary flowers; bracts ovate-lanceolate. Pedicels (0.9-2 cm) glabrous, without glands. External sepals with 6-14 pinnatifid lobes, with glands along the margin and glabrous on the dorsal side, folded backwards, caducous. Corolla 2-3.5 cm in diameter; petals (1.1-2 × 0.9-1.8 mm), notched at the apex, white or white-pinkish. Styles free, ± glabrous. Urceolus 14-19 mm long, urceolate or subglobose, smooth and red when ripe.
Flowering:
April to July.
Fruiting:
August to November.
Habitat:
Forests, thickets and rocky outcrops, preferably on ± humid soils, on very diverse terrain, in low and medium mountains. In dry to humid bioclimate, on thermomediterranean to supramediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western Europe and Mediterranean region. In North Africa it is not common but it is distributed from the mountains of Morocco to the mountains of the Tunisian Dorsal, reaching in the S to the western Anti-Atlas and the Saharan Atlas (Algeria, near Aflou).
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Tunisia it is included in its List of native species that are rare and threatened with extinction (Order of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources 19-July-2006).