The Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis) is a beautiful June flower here in the Boreal forest and prairies of Canada. Wild Rose grows from Alaska, south to the mid-west in North America and is circumpolar. This beautiful flower is also packed with nutrition and medicine, with almost every part being edible—just not the thorns. Wild Rose, also aptly named prickly rose, or prickly wild rose is called an “early colonizer” which means it is one of the first plants to re-appear in disturbed soil. It regrows quickly after a wild-fire, and when logging or other disturbance is done, it is one of the first plants to start nature’s reforesting process.
The medicine of Rose is experienced on different levels, from the calming, Sattvic scent of the petals to the rich nutrition of the fruit. Cultivated roses have some medicinal value, but they have been cross-bred for looks and sometimes scent, not for medicinal purposes and along the way have lost a lot of their medicinal properties. If you are looking for roses to use for medicine, a species of wild rose is best.
Wildcrafting and Growing Rose
Rose loves the sun, and the wild rose grows on riverbanks and along the edges and in the clearings of forests. This plant is a lot of fun to forage for, and when my children were small and we lived on an acreage, we harvested enough rosehips just from the wild rose bushes that grew in the shelterbelt along the edges of the acreage. When foraging for petals, its best practice to only take 2-3 of the 5 petals, leaving some for pollinators to land on. When harvesting rose hips, I harvested about 1/3rd of what I saw. In the spring when I revisited the bushes, if I saw a rosehip left over here or there, I felt like I was taking the right amount: there was still a little more than what the local animals and birds needed.
Can you grow wild rose?
You can, but not the same way you would grow a cultivated rose. For wild rose, you only need to provide it with the right environment to grow in: sunny, with lots of space and well-drained soil. Roses like to have room to grow, to spread, to breathe, and if you can plant one to three rose bushes to expand into a thicket, you’ll provide food for pollinators and habitat for small wild animals. Thickets can be a little difficult to harvest from though! Plenty of thorns to contend with.
Once planted and established, wild roses need almost no care. They are very hardy little bushes and grow from the roots, so even if they completely die back from winter-kill, they will grow up again in the spring. You shouldn’t need to water them, and if you want to be able to harvest rose hips every fall, only prune much older branches (more than 2 years old) and don’t dead-head the flowers.
Benefits of Rosa Acicularis
The Petals
The beautiful pink petals of the wild rose are well-known for their humectant effect, helping the skin to retain moisture, which makes them a prized ingredient in cosmetic products. Rose petal steams and hydrosols are used for an astringent and tonic effect on the skin, helping to balance the skins pH and tighten the pores, as well as having antibacterial properties, helping to clear acne.
In a cool infusion tea the petals help to refresh and energize, and can also be used as an eyewash for irritated eyes. Rose petal water is also used to help balance the hormones, and when taken daily, can help with PMS symptoms and menopause.
Rose petals, especially the scent of rose petals, (their volatile oil) have a sattvic effect on us, calming, soothing, and bringing us back to our heart center. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, rose petals—both the scent and in a tea are used to help clear the liver of stagnant Qi: energy that is blocked by repressed anger and needs to clear through to allow the liver and gallbladder to function properly. Rose petals help us express and release these stuck emotions.
Rose essential oil (which is made from the petals) has been prized for centuries, long before Aromatherapy became a thing. It takes 5,000 pounds of rose petals to create one pound of oil! Given the feathery-lightness of a rose petal, it is no wonder Rose essential oil is so expensive. I found one website, Rocky Mountain Oils, advertising 100% pure rose essential oil: $200 for 5ml. According to their site: “The scent of Rose is known to be a powerful aphrodisiac that also promotes feelings of peace, comfort, love, and grace.”
The rosehips
The fruit of the rose, known as the rosehips, are where most of the nutrition of the rose is. Rosehips are incredibly high in vitamin C, and Rosa Acicularis contains the most vitamin C of all the roses.
Three Rose hips contain as much vitamin C as an entire orange.
Rose hips also contain bioflavanoids, iron and B vitamins. A decoction of rosehips is used for antispasmodic purposes, to help with menstrual cramping, as well as for the antibacterial properties, to help heal kidney and bladder infections.
The bioflavanoids in the rosehips make them excellent for heart-health, strengthening capilliaries, and improving blood pressure and plasma cholesterol levels.1
Rose hips and seeds have also been studied for their anti-inflammatory and pain reducing effects, and studies have shown them to be effective in reducing osteoarthritis related pain in the hips and knees.
Rosa oil, the cold-pressed oil of the rose hips is prized for its cosmetic use of helping new scars to heal completely. The high bioflavanoid and vitamin C content of the oil, rubbed directly into the fresh scar, gives the skin the nutrients it needs to finish healing completely.
The bottom line is that vitamin C, as well as bioflavanoids are an important part of our health and well-being and rose hips are a good quality source of these nutrients. Rose hips and petals are a food, and can be eaten in food amounts, meaning that it would take a very high dosage to have too much. However there is one caution with the rose hips: they do contain tiny seed hairs that can be irritating to the digestive tract, so you don’t want to eat too many of the hips whole. It is better to have them in syrup or tea form.
How to use Rose
Rose hips are easily used when dried and added to a tea or decoction (boiled tea), or when turned into a syrup or jelly. The dried pink petals can be used in an infusion, or in a facial steam. You can source both the petals and the rosehips from your local herbalist, or, if you live in the boreal region, from your local forest, remembering to leave some for the birds and animals. Since rosehips stay on the plant all winter, they are a great source of food for local wild birds and small animals.
Rosehip syrup is easy to make, and a delicious source of vitamin C, especially for children who may not want to drink a rosehip tea. The syrup tastes great on pancakes, or drizzled into yogurt.
Rosehips and petals are both delicious ingredients in tea. I make a tea specifically for supporting liver health and emotional release that contains rose petals in the following formula:
4 parts Chamomile flower 3 parts Lemon Balm leaf 3 parts Oatstraw 2 parts Peppermint leaf 2 parts Pink Rose petal ½ part powdered Ginger root
This is an infusion tea, steeped for 10 minutes covered to keep the volatile oils from escaping.
Roses are more than a pretty face and scent. They offer us powerful medicine for relieving both emotional and physical pain, for healing wounds, and for decreasing systemic inflammation.
-Rosalee De La Foret
Further Reading and Resources
Alchemy of Herbs by Rosalee De Le Foret
The Boreal Herbal by Beverley Gray
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22166897/
Such a beautiful flower! Are commercial rose hip teas beneficial? or is the amount too scant?