Shrubs, erect, diffuse, or climbing, mostly prickly, bristly, or rarely unarmed, pubescent, glandular-pubescent, or glabrous. Leaves alternate, odd pinnate, rarely simple; stipules adnate or inserted at petiole, rarely absent. Flowers solitary or in a corymb, rarely in a compound corymb or a panicle; bracts solitary, several, or absent. Hypanthium globose, urceolate, or cupular, constricted at neck. Sepals 5, rarely 4, quincuncial: 2 outer, 2 inner, and 1 middle, margin entire or variously pinnately lobed. Petals 5, rarely 4, imbricate, white, yellow, pink, or red; disc inserted at mouth of hypanthium. Stamens numerous, in several whorls, inserted at disc. Carpels free, numerous, rarely few, inserted at margin or base of hypanthium, not or rarely stalked; ovule pendulous; styles terminal or lateral, exserted or not, free or connate at upper part. Fruit a hip, formed from fleshy hypanthium. Achenes numerous, rarely few, on adaxial surface of fleshy hypanthium, woody. Seed pendulous. x = 7.

The following three species require further study. We are unable to treat them in this account because we have seen no specimens. Rosa atroglandulosa C. K. Schneider (Bot. Gaz. (Crawfordsville) 64: 75. 1917), described from Sichuan; R. beauvaisii Cardot (Notul. Syst. (Paris) 3: 261. 1916), described from N Vietnam, also reported for SW Guangxi (Longzhou Xian) (Kai Larsen, pers. comm.); and R. tunquinensis Crépin (Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 25(2): 192. 1886), described from N Vietnam and China, also reported for Laos (Kai Larsen, pers. comm.).

Several species and hybrids are cultivated in China. The following occur in addition to those mentioned below: Rosa ×alba Linnaeus (of uncertain parentage), R. centifolia Linnaeus, R. damascena Miller, R. ×fortuneana Lindley (probably R. banksiae × R. laevigata), and R. gallica Linnaeus.

About 200 species: widely distributed from subtropical to cold-temperate regions; 95 species (65 endemic) in China.

(Authors: Gu Cuizhi (Ku Tsue-chih); Kenneth R. Robertson)