Website/Catalog  (2018)  
 
Rosa stellata Wooton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 25: 152, plate 335. 1898.
Hesperhodos minutifolius (Engelmann) Hurst subsp. stellatus (Wooton) Hurst; H. stellatus (Wooton) Boulenger
Description

Website/Catalog  (2008)  
 
Check the New York Botanical Garden website for an outstanding large, pressed specimen of Rosa stellata Wooton collected in New Mexico in 1897.

Book  (May 1992)  Page(s) 121.  
 
R. stellata. Species. S. USA 1902... Flowers rich pinkish-purple...

Book  (1981)  Page(s) 295.  
 
R. stellata Woot. Upright shrub, 0.3-0.5 m./1-1.7 ft. high, young stems closely stellate-hairy, densely branched, prickles slender, often mixed with bristles; leaflets 3(-5), about 12 mm./0.5 in. long, obovate to wedge-shaoped, deeply incised at the apex, bald or slightly stellate-hairy, stipules with glandular margin; flowers solitary, dark purple, 4-6 cm./1.6-2.4 in. across, June-August; styles woolly, stamens numerous, about 160 or more; sepals pinnate, bristtly beneath; fruits turbinate, brown-red, bristly, to 2 cm./0.8 in. across, mostly sterile. 2n = 14. VP 442; WR 103. (= R. vernonii Greene). W. Texas to Arizona. Found 1897, introduced 1902. Hardy, but needs a dry, sunny spot.

Book  (1976)  Page(s) 168.  
 
R. stellata Wooton
- in Bull. Torr. Bot. Club. (1898), 152
(R. vernoni Greene)
Büsche: 30 bis 50 cm hoch; junge Triebe behaart, dicht verzweigt. Stacheln fein, gerade, meistens paarweise angeordnet, mit Borsten gemischt.
Blätter: 3, seltener 5 Fiederblättchen, 1,2 cm lang, umgekehrt eiförmig bis keilförmig, an der Spitze tief gezähnt, kahl oder leicht sternförmig behaart; Nebenblättchen an den Rändern drüsig.
Blüten: einzelständig, 4 bis 6 cm breit, zartrosa; viele Staubfäden, etwa 160 und mehr; Kelchblätter gefiedert, Unterseite borstig; Griffel wollig.
Früchte: rundlich bis 2 cm dick, borstig, bräunlich-rot; häufig ohne Früchte.
Verreitungsgebiet: Sie wurde 1897 in den Bergen von New Mexico (Orgel) aufgefunden und 1902 nach England eingeführt. Die Pflanze ist winterhart und dürreresistent.
 

Book  (1940)  Page(s) 451.  
 
R. stellata Woot. Shrub to 0.6 m.; brs. with numerous slender yellowish white prickles and closely stellate-pubescent when young: lfts. 3, sometimes 5, broad-cunetae-obovate, 5-10 mm. long, incisely dentate, pubescent on both sides: fls. solitary, deep rose-purple, 3.5-5.5 cm. across: fr. broad-turbinate, 1-1.5 cm. across, dull reddish. Fl. VI-VIII. W.R.305,t(c). J.L.27:456.Bull. Torr. Club 25:t.335,f.1-5,9. (Hesperhodos stellatus Boulenger.) W. Tex. to Ariz. Intr. 1902. Zone (V).

Book  (1937)  Page(s) 79.  
 
stellata Wood. (Minutifolia) [ploidy] 14

Magazine  (1913)  Page(s) 571.  
 
In Letters to the Editor:
" Rosa stellata." In 1898 Prof. E. O. Wooton described a remarkable new rose from southern New Mexico, giving it the name Rosa stellata on account of the stellate trichomes. The peculiar, mostly trifoliolate leaves, the leaflets with cuneiform bases and more or less truncate, sharply toothed apices, gave the plant an unusual appearance; while even the flowers, described as " large and showy . . . deep rose-purple," were not at all like those of the ordinary wild roses of the Rocky Mountains. Through the kindness of my friend, Prof. Fabian Garcia, I obtained some living plants of R. stellata from the original locality in the Organ Mountains. Some of these were sent to Dr. A. R. Wallace, who has grown them in England successfully; the others have been growing in Boulder, Colorado. Last year the plants in my garden grew exceedingly well, and were most attractive. Certainly if R. stellata can be generally used in gardens, it will be a valuable addition to horticulture, but it probably will do its best only in relatively dry climates. My wife attempted crosses with several other roses, and in one case was successful in getting good seed; what will result remains to be seen.

The fruit of R. stellata, as indicated by Wooton, is large, beset with strong slender prickles. Quite unlike the usual types of rose fruits, its walls are dense, not at all fleshy or brilliantly coloured, but corky. The orifice is very broad, with a diameter of 8 mm. The bright chestnut-red seeds, about 4 mm. long, are long-oval, not compressed, and therefore not at all angular. All this differs conspicuously from the fruit of typical Rosa.

R. stellata, however, is not the only plant of this type. Years before, Engelmann described R. minutifolia from Lower California, a plant with the same general characters. In recent times, Dr. Greene has separated part of Wooton's R. stellata as R. mirifica, and has added a fourth species, R. vernonii. Thus we have a compact group, which should, I think, form a distinct subgenus or genus Hesperhodos, with stellata as the type. All the species are of extremely restricted distribution, which may probably be explained by the fact that the fruits are not adapted to be eaten by birds.

The wide-open prickly fruit suggests that this may be a primitive form, as compared with true Rosa; but it is to be noted that the roses found fossil in the Miocene beds of Florissant, Colorado, belong to the true genus Rosa, not at all to Hesperhodos. T. D. A. Cockkrell, Boulder, Colorado, December 30, 1912.

Magazine  (1898)  Page(s) 152-154, Pl. 335.  Includes photo(s).
 
in "A New Southwestern Rose" by E.O.Wooton
The species Rosa stellata is particularly interesting as being the second member of ...the...section Minutifoliae of Crepin. While agreeing in most particulars...to this section...it can hardly be said to have appendiculate outer sepals nor is the pubescence of the receptacle long.
While closely related to Rosa minutifolia Engelm., it is easily separated from that species by its less numerous and larger hips with fewer and smaller spines. The stellate trichomes, referred to in the name I have given it, are most unique and interesting in this genus.
Shrub, 4-6 dm. high, much branched. Stems stiff, beset with numerous straight or slightly curved yellowish spines, young stems closely covered with stellate trichomes [star-shaped hairs]....leaves small...3-5 foliolate...leaflets triangular...cuneate...cut into 5-8 large rounded...teeth...leaflets, petiole and stipules covered by with a fine spreading silky white pubescence, not glandular; flowers large and showy, solitary, 4-7 cm. in diameter, terminal, deep rose-purple...calyx-tube globose...very finely pubescent and covered with numerous spines...fruit irregularly spheroidal, spiny...
First collected in flower near the Cueva in the Organ Mountains, New Mexico, April 30, 1893...at an altitude of about 5500 feet...A single specimen collected...in the Sacramento Mountains, N.M....There is considerable variation in the specimens collected at the different localities, those from the higher altitudes...more vigorous..., more glandular, more spiny and less pubescent...The Organ Mountain specimens are closely lepidote [ed. note: rough to the touch, scaly] on all the branches....The leaves are...finely pubescent and not....glandular...the leaflets perfectly triangular. Specimens from the White Mountains show all grades of stellate scaliness...Old stems are rarely lepidote and all are much more spiny, the stellate trichomes being replaced by numerous fine recurved spines. The leaflets...vary from triangular to obovate, and from finely pubescent to perfectly glabrous....The Fresnal specimen is perfectly glabrous on leaves and stems, but the stems are very spiny and bear numerous stipitate glands...the margins of the leaflets and stipules are very glandular; the leaflets are usually five....The absence of stellate trichomes, the more numerous spines, the generally more numerous, larger, and differently shaped leaflets, and the glandular character of this plant would seem to be sufficient to establish a well marked variety at least, but the material...seems...too scanty to warrant such action.