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Wild Rose – Form and Function

Wild Rose, Rosa canina, can be either white or rose pink: shades of both Clematis and Honeysuckle. And the same gesture is there in the stems which, although they start off energetically, thrusting up vertically, when free of support they curve over and turn back towards the earth. Roses put out new growth in August and September, at the end of the summer, and so leave it late in the year. These gracefully arching stems, fresh green and flexible, are an echo of spring. The thorns, which are a bright, flesh-pink when young, act as hooks, helping the plant to gain stability. This is important since the long stems would otherwise be blown about by the wind, damaging the plant. When a person becomes ‘resigned to all that happens’ they are indeed blown as the wind wills, without structure or direction of their own. Hiding in the hedge, Wild Rose usually gains support from others.

The hooks or thorns are fiercely prominent and extremely sharp. Approach Wild Rose and you will never escape without a scratch; blood will be drawn. Here we see again the image of forceful stimulus found in Gorse which will jab at apathy and weak will. The thorns are curved downwards, shaped like a canine tooth (hence Rosa canina) and they share the tooth’s ripping and tearing disposition. In the converse of the Wild Rose state a person takes hold and will not let go; with terrier-like determination they keep working at a problem until it is solved. Rosa canina is also known as Dog Rose though it is generally supposed that Dog derives from dague, Old French for dagger. The sharpness of the prickles is followed by the jagged edge of the leaves. The surface of the leaf is smooth, without the hairs which indicate sensitivity to the environment around.