Index / Search / Rosa californica

§1 Plant

Rosa californica Cham. & Schltdl.

vernacular California wildrose — species · Rosaceae


USDA
ROCA2
GBIF
3006252
Rank
species
California wildrose (Rosa californica)
Platephotograph · WintertanagerCC BY-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Subshrub
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Rosaceae Juss.
Genus
Rosa
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 49 counties across 2 states/territories
Legend Native · 49 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
Medium
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
None
Hedging
High
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
7 °F minimum
Frost-free days
270 min.
Precipitation
11–40 in/yr
pH range
7–8
Root depth
6 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Thicket Forming
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
10 ft
Height @ 20 y
10 ft
Foliage texture
Medium
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Red
Fruit colour
Red
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Summer
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Fall
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
Yes
Seeds / lb
102,000
Propagation
seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
Yes
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
Yes
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 49 counties across 2 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ROCA2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3006252 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T16:37:38Z