Plant
California Wild Rose
Rosa californicaAlso known as California Rose, California Wildrose
California wild roses form fragrant, spiny thickets along streams and moist foothill slopes throughout the California Floristic Province. Their solitary or clustered pink flowers bloom from late spring into summer, attracting native bees and butterflies before ripening into bright red hips. These dense briar patches provide critical nesting habitat for songbirds and shelter for small mammals against predators.
FloweringChaparralNative Plant
—observations
—countries
—peak records
Least ConcernConservation statusIUCN Red List categoriesLCNTVUENCREWEXLeast ConcernRed List categories, explained →
Diet & preyPhotosynthetic
Predators
- Mule deer
- Caterpillars
- Aphids
ThreatsHabitat development, invasive plant competition, altered fire regimes
HabitatsChaparral, riparian corridors, oak woodlands, foothill canyons
Life spanPerennial (decades via underground rhizomes)
Classification
- OrderRosales
- FamilyRosaceae
- GenusRosa
- SpeciesRosa californica
Range data is not available yet.
Interaction riskLow
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Very high
- Why interaction risk is low
- Wild hips and berries have toxic look-alikes; never eat wild plant parts based on app identification alone.
Responsible observation
- Observation: Look for five flat pink petals with a bright yellow ring of stamens in early summer.
- Habitat location: Scan creek banks, canyon bottoms, and roadside ditches in oak woodlands.
Habitat Companion no rights reserved, uploaded by Tom Erler · cc0
Close Relative (c) Leslie Seaton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by
Close Relative no rights reserved, uploaded by Andrew Holle · cc0
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