Description
A note on taxonomy: in our field experience, there is a fair amount of blurring between the species Rosa carolina and the species Rosa virginiana. Carolina rose is more exclusive to dry barren sunny areas, whereas Virginia rose seems a bit more likely to inhabit a moister edge. It is also common near the beach. Carolina rose is a shorter species and Virginia rose is taller. However, the classic characters used to divide the species — leaves glossy or not, stipules with or without parallel margins, characters of nodal and internodal prickles, number of flowers per inflorescence etc. are often hopelessly muddled in actual plants. Also, Virginia rose frequently inhabits Carolina rose territory — i.e. dry ridgelines with shallow soils. We suspect widespread hybridization, or else that these two species are in fact variable morphs of a single species.
We do our best to keep low, barrens-loving individuals sorted as Carolina rose and their more robust relatives categorized as Virginia rose. However, please expect that your rose from us may display characters atypical of a strict interpretation of the species. If a certain character is of critical importance to you, please contact us before ordering.
Larval Host Plant (moths):
Apple Sphinx
Black-blotched Schizura
Blinded Sphinx
Camouflaged Looper
Checkered-fringe Prominent
Cleft-headed Looper
Common Lytrosis
Crocus Geometer
Dot-lined White
Fringed Looper
Linden Looper
Norman’s Quaker
Polyphemus Moth
Purple-lined Sallow
Red-humped Caterpillar
Skiff Moth
Stinging Rose Caterpillar
Unicorn Caterpillar
White-dotted Prominent
White-marked tussock
Yellow-necked Caterpillar
