Rosa amygdalifolia Seringe; R. argyi H. Léveillé; R. cucumerina Trattinnick; R. laevigata var. kaiscianensis Pampanini; R. laevigata var. leiocarpa Y. Q. Wang & P. Y. Chen; R. nivea Candolle; R. ternata Poiret; R. triphylla Roxburgh.

Shrubs evergreen, climbing, to 5 m. Branchlets purple-brown, terete, robust; prickles scattered, curved, to 4 mm, flat, gradually tapering to a broad base; bristles glandular, dense on young stems, to 4 mm. Leaves including petiole 5–10 cm; stipules caducous, free or with base adnate to petiole, lanceolate, glandular serrate, apex acuminate; rachis and petiole shortly prickly and glandular bristly; leaflets 3, rarely 4, elliptic-ovate, obovate, or lanceolate-ovate, 2–6 × 1.2–3.5 cm, leathery, sometimes abaxially minutely prickly and glandular bristly along midvein when young, glabrescent, adaxially glabrous, base broadly cuneate, margin acutely serrate, apex acute or rounded-obtuse. Flower solitary, axillary, 5–10 cm in diam.; pedicel 1.8–2.5(–3) cm, densely glandular bristly; bracts absent. Hypanthium ovoid, densely glandular bristly. Sepals 5, persistent, slightly shorter than petals, ovate-lanceolate, leaflike, abaxially glabrous, adaxially densely pubescent, margin entire, often glandular bristly. Petals 5, semi-double, or double, white, broadly obovate, base broadly cuneate, apex emarginate. Styles free, much shorter than stamens, pubescent. Hip purple-brown, pyriform or obovoid, rarely subglobose, 0.8–1.5 cm in diam., densely glandular bristly, with persistent, erect sepals. Fl. Apr–Jun, fr. Jul–Nov.

Two forms may be recognized: f. laevigata, which has flowers single, 5–7 cm in diam., and f. semiplena T. T. Yü & T. C. Ku (Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 1(4): 17. 1981), which has flowers semidouble, 5–10 cm in diam.

The root bark contains tannin, and is used for tanning. Sugar is extracted from the fruit, which is also used to ferment wine. The roots, leaves, and fruit are all used medicinally.

Thickets, scrub, open montane areas, open fields, farmland; 200--1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Vietnam; cultivated elsewhere].