I remember having noticed when a rose bush appeared to a previous field in Lohja, SW Finland: in the 1970´s or in early 1980´s. But it was as late as the height of summer of 2002 that I took a closer look at the bush to identify it as to species and collected a specimen of it. It turned out to be the characteristic Rosa rubiginosa L. (Rosaceae), a cultivated species quite unknown to me before. The flowers of this species are inodorous but in warm summer days the vigorous bush with robust spines emits a fairly strong scent of apples or some kinds of wine. The leaves are glandular with a sticky underside.
The cultivation of the field ceased early in the 1960´s. Subsequently, a tree nursery (without roses) was established in the area. Nowadays the habitat has been left out of any cultivation and can be characterized as a forest margin on fertile, somewhat calcareous soils. The essential label notes of the specimen collected are: Rosa rubiginosa L., Varsinais-Suomi, Lohja, Jalassaari, Heimo, one bush (or a group?), 8.VII.2002 H. Harmaja.
This European species is not indigenous in Finland but is cultivated as an ornamental in places. There is one record of it as escaped in southernmost Finland (Hiitonen, I. 1933: Suomen Kasvio. – 771 pp. Vanamon kirjoja 32, Helsinki.). The locality reported is situated in a different biogeographical province (Uusimaa) than where Lohja belongs to (Varsinais-Suomi). However, the Woody Flora of Finland (Hämet-Ahti, L., Palmén, A., Alanko. P. & Tigerstedt, P.M.A. 1992: Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio. 2. ed. – 373 pp. Dendrologian seura r.y., Helsinki) omits the report of Hiitonen and consequently does not mention any escaped occurrences in the country.
The Lohja occurrence of R. rubiginosa may be an escape from cultivation. However, as far as I know, the species is not cultivated near-by. The area of the spontaneous distribution of R. rubiginosa extends close to SW Finland at its northern edge in eastern Sweden and northern Estonia. Due to the warming of the climate the species may be in a process of widening its distribution northwards. Hence, it is not completely impossible that the Lohja occurrence got rise from an achene originating from a spontaneous stand.
Created March 1, 2003. Latest revision June 19, 2003.