Pronounced: RO-zuh mull-tee-FLO-rah
Sprays of small white flowers cover arching, prickly canes in late spring and early summer. Look for the comb-like fringe at each leaf base to separate this introduced rose from native roses.
Multiflora Rose field photograph. Select the photo to enlarge.
Family Rosaceae · rose family
Life cycle Perennial woody shrub
Blooms May–June in the Upper Midwest
Size Often 6–10 feet tall; can reach about 15 feet
Light & habitat Sun to partial shade; old fields, thickets, fencerows and woodland edges
Non-native to North America. Invasive in the Upper Midwest. Native to eastern Asia.
Reported observations may include cultivated plants and do not define the full native range.
Compare leaves, prickles, flower stalks, stipules and hips across similar regional roses. Use several features together alongside the field photographs; individual plants vary and roses can hybridize.
Click or tap the chart to enlarge it. Botanical details are shown at different scales.
Look where the leaf stalk joins the cane: fringed stipules form a narrow, comb-like border. This is one of the most useful clues, even outside the flowering season.
Leaves usually have 5–11 toothed leaflets. Combine the leaf-base fringe with arching canes, hooked prickles and clusters of small, usually white, five-petaled flowers.
Look along fencerows, old fields, thickets and woodland margins in late spring and early summer. Flower clusters develop at the ends of branching shoots above the compound leaves.
The plant can form dense, tangled patches and extend through nearby vegetation. It tolerates some shade, though flowering is generally more abundant in sunny openings.
Native to eastern Asia and introduced across much of the United States, including Wisconsin and Illinois.
Reported U.S. distribution
AL, AR, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV
State records describe documented distribution, not presence in every county. This list follows the USDA Forest Service review and may not include every newer record. Observation maps may also include cultivated plants.
Distribution source: USDA Forest Service.
Clusters carry many buds and small flowers with five white petals and yellow stamens. After flowering, small rose hips develop and ripen red.
Hips often remain into winter. Their clustered arrangement can help you locate the shrub, but confirm the identification with its fringed stipules and compound leaves.
Wild Climbing Rose (Rosa setigera) usually has three leaflets and larger pink flowers. Its stipules lack the conspicuous comb-like fringe of Multiflora Rose. Compare Wild Climbing Rose →
Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) is generally a lower native shrub with pink flowers and unfringed stipules. Compare Prairie Rose →
Flower color alone is not decisive. Compare an entire leaf and the stipules at its base.
A periodical cicada rests on this flower cluster. A visitor in a photograph does not necessarily mean it is pollinating the flower.
Birds and other animals eat the hips and disperse seeds. Canes can also root where their tips touch the ground, helping a shrub expand into a dense patch.
Multiflora Rose can crowd out native vegetation. Its flowers and hips attract wildlife, but that does not make it a suitable native planting. For local identification and management guidance, see Wisconsin DNR.
Practice recognizing Multiflora Rose by its flower clusters, compound leaves and fringed stipules, then compare it with native wild roses.
