(1821)  Page(s) 158-9.  
 
Polygynia.
ROSA
9. R. arvensis (white Field Rose), shoots flagelliform, prickles unequal falcate, leaflets glaucous beneath.  Lindl. p. 112. Lightf. p. 261. E. B. t. 188
Hab. Hedges and borders of fields, occasionally.  Frequent in the lowlands, Dr. Burgess. Bogle's hole, Glasg., Hopk. Fl. June, July. ♄.
Branches flagelliform, procumbent, slender, dull glaucous purple, armed with scattered, falcate, or straightish equal prickles, those of the old shoots almost white, of the young ones smaller and red, sometimes none (in weak specimens).  Leaves distant, dark green, or on a chalky soil yellowish; stipules narrow, flat, naked, fringed with glands, red in the middle; petioles pubescent, with scattered glands and little falcate dorsal prickles; leaflets 5-7, flat, ovate, somewhat waved, simply serrated, very glaucous beneath; the rib somewhat hairy.  Flowers solitary on the branchlets, numerous on the rootshoots, white, with a yellow base, and a slight scent, at first cyathiform, afterwards more open; peduncles rough with glands and a very few setæ; tube of the calyx ovate, naked; calycine segments short, ovate, concave, a little divided, those which are so, rough with glands; petals obovate, emarginate; stamens persistent; disk elevated, fleshy; germens 15-25; styles united into a long smooth column.  Fruit scarlet, round or oblong.
This is readily distinguished by the long smooth column of the styles from all the British species, except the R. systyla, which is known by its assurgent, not trailing shoots, which are of a bright green colour.  R. arvensis is the Ayrshire Rose of the gardens, figured in Bot. Mag.: another, however, goes by that name, the R. capreolata of Mr. Neill, in the Edin. Phil. Journ., which is R. sempervirens.