There are many types of roses grown in the horticultural trade. For example, a small rose nursery in Fremont has more than 700 varieties of roses available for sale at its nursery.
In California, there are only nine species of native roses currently recognized. Barbara Ertter from the University of California at Berkeley has studied these roses extensively. The nine species are sorted into three groups.
The thicket-forming roses include Rosa californica, Rosa nutkana, Rosa pisocarpa and Rosa woodsii.
The wood and ground roses include Rosa gymnocarpa, Rosa spithamea, Rosa bridgesii and Rosa pinetorum. And then Rosa minutifolia is in its own group because of differing characteristics.
Ertter emphasizes that characteristics of rose species often overlap and integrate.
Although native roses are not showy, it’s a joy to discover a small five-petaled pink flower on a shrub with compound leaves and prickles while walking Marin trails.
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