Rosa multiflora var. multiflora (multiflora rose, "Noibara")

Japanese name: ノイバラ （野茨）
Scientific name: Rosa multiflora var. multiflora

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 1–4 m tall, commonly seen in sunny places from lowlands to mountains.
The stems branch well, and the branches have hooked prickles about 6 mm long.
The leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound, 5–10 cm long, with 7–9 leaflets.
The leaflets are elliptic, 1–5 cm long and 0.8–2.8 cm wide; the upper surface is sunken and wrinkled along the veins and is not glossy.
Soft hairs grow on the underside of the leaves and on the leaf axis.
The leaf margin has teeth.
A characteristic feature is that the stipules are deeply and finely pinnately divided like the teeth of a comb.
Panicles at the branch tips bear many white, 5-petaled flowers 2–2.5 cm across.
The flowers are fragrant and produce a lot of nectar.
The fruit is spherical to ovoid, 6–8 mm across, ripening red and remaining until late autumn.

[History]
It is also mentioned in the Man'yoshu under the name 'umara'.
It is the wild species that brought the cluster-flowering habit to garden varieties of rose, and is the origin of the Polyantha and Floribunda groups.

[Uses]
The fruit is used as a crude drug.
It is used as a rootstock for grafting roses.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by cuttings.
It prefers fertile soil in a sunny, well-drained, well-ventilated place.
It is hardy and easy to grow.
It grows fast and, if left alone, spreads into a large clump, so space is needed.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless summer brings a long spell of sunny weather and the soil dries out.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter, and apply slow-release fertilizer after flowering in spring.
Basically it is not pruned and is left to its natural form.
Pests and diseases include aphids, rose sawflies and longhorn beetles.

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