Rosa virginiana, commonly known as the Virginia Rose , Common Wild Rose or Prairie Rose, is a woody perennial in the rose family

Rosaceae

Rosaceae are a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including about 2830 species in 95 genera. The name is derived from the type genus Rosa. Among the largest genera are Alchemilla , Sorbus , Crataegus , Cotoneaster , and Rubus...

 native to eastern North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, where it is the commonest wild rose. It is deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

, forming a suckering shrub up to 2 metres in height, though often less. The stems are covered in numerous hooked prickles. The leaves are pinnate

Pinnate

Pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in plant or animal structures, and comes from the Latin word pinna meaning "feather", "wing", or "fin". A similar term is pectinate, which refers to a comb-like arrangement of parts...

, usually with between 7 and 9 glossy leaflets. The pink flowers are borne singly or in small clusters and appear over a long period in midsummer. The fruits are small, round and bright red.

Quest-Ritson and Quest-Ritson describe R. virginiana as "the best all-rounder among the wild roses", and draw attention to its leaf coloration in the fall: "the whole plant turns yellow, orange, scarlet, crimson and brown for weeks on end".