Book  (1944)  Page(s) 462.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa californica Cham. & Sch. California Rose. Fig.. 2509.
Rosa californica Cham. & Sch. Linnaea 2: 35. 1827.
Rosa californica var. pubescens Crepin, Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. 15: 52. 1876.
Rosa Hartwegiana Crepin, Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. 15: 52, as a synonym. 1876.

A variable species, the typical form with stems erect, much branched, light brown or yellowish, 1-3 m. high, armed with stout flattened recurved prickles, the young shoots usually bristly. Leaves 5-7-foliolate, oval, 1-2 cm. long, usually simply serrate, teeth without glands, dull green and more or less appressed-pubescent above, villous and sometimes slightly glandular beneath ; pedicels glabrous or somewhat villous ; hypanthium glabrous or rarely sparsely villous, globose or subglobose with a distinct neck, 10-15 mm. broad in fruit; sepals lanceolate, caudate-attenuate, entire, villous and rarely glandular on the margins.
Low ground or moist slopes, often forming thickets, Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones; southern Oregon to northern Lower California. Type locality: San Francisco, California. May-Sept.

Book  (1944)  Page(s) 462.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa Aldersonii Greene. Alderson's Rose. Fig. 2508.
Rosa californica var. Petersiana C. A. Mey. Zimmtr. 19. 1847.
Rosa californica var. glandulosa Crepin, Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. 15: 52. 1876.
Rosa Aldersonii Greene, Pittonia 5: 110. 1903.
Rosa Breweri Greene, Leaflets Bot. Obs. 2: 262. 1912.

Stems armed with stout recurved prickles. Leaves 5-9-foliolate, pilose and glandular-pubescent throughout ; leaflets broadly oval, obtuse, 15-30 mm. long, more or less doubly serrate with gland-tipped teeth ; pedicels pilose and glandular ; flowers in few- to several-flowered cymes; sepals pilose and glandular; petals 15-20 mm. long; fruit 8-10 mm. thick, globose or ovoid and short-beaked, glabrous or sparsely pilose toward the base.
Hillsides and thickets. Upper Sonoran Zone; central California to northern Lower California. Type locality: Witch Creek, San Diego County, California. April-Aug.
This species and californica, as here treated, constitute two extremely variable groups. A number of segregates have been proposed based largely upon pubescence, the shape of the prickles, and the absence or presence of a neck on the fruit.
 

Book  (1940)  Page(s) 441.  
 
R. californica Cham. & Schlecht. Shrub to 3 m., with stout flattened, recurved prickles 5-8 mm. long; young shoots sometimes bristly; flowering brts. usually prickly: lfts. 5-7, broad-elliptic to oblong-obovate, 1-3 cm. long, usually obtuse, usually simply serrate, not glandular, dull and appressed-pubescent above, villous beneath: fls. in leafy-bracted corymbs, pink, about 4 cm. across; sepals villous outside; pedicels glabrous or slightly villous: fr. globose, with a distinct neck, 1-1.5 cm. across. Fl. VI-VIII. Armstrong, Field Book Wild Fl. 221,f. Ore. to L. Calif. Cult. 1878. Zone V.

Book  (1939)  Page(s) 182-183.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa californica C. & S. California Wild Rose. Fig. 196.
Usually an erect stout diffusely branched shrub, 3 to 9 feet high, with straight or curved stout pricklesor somewhat unarmed. Leaflets 5 to 7 (rarely 3 or 9), ovate to oblong, ½-inch to 1½ inches long, glabrous or pubescent above, paler and finely pubescent or distinctly glandular or sometimes almost glabrous beneath, usually simply serrate and not glandular; stipules either with or without glands on the margins. Flowers rose-colored or light pink, few to 30 (rarely more) in amuch branched cluster; pedicels not glandular-hispid or bristly (rarely slightly so); sepals either glandular or without glands, often tipped with foliaceous appendages; persistent on the matured fruit; petals obcordate, ¾-inch to 1 inch long; hypanthium globose or ovoid, about ½- to ¾-inch long; glabrous or rarely pilose when young, never glandular, usually somewhat constricted below the calyx-lobes. Flowering period, May to November.
California Wild Rose is the most widely distributed, the most abundant, and the most variable of our native roses. It occurs most commonly along creek banks, near seepages, and in wet places along roadsides at the lower and middle eleations throughout California, in the Upper Sonoran and Transition Life Zones. Some of the numerous segregates or forms of this species extend northward to Oregon and Washington and eatward to the Rocky Mountain states.
In this species the characteristics of the spines, glands, glandular hairs, bristles, hypanthia, pedicels, sepals, petioles, stipules, rachises, ant the leaflets show much variation and intergradation, and consequently some of the numerous forms have been described by various authors as varieties and species. Until more is known about the genetic fixity of these characters under controlled conditions, this species must remain a heterogenous compklex of forms of uncertain taxonomic rank.
Rosa californica C. & S. Linnaea 2:35 (1827). Type locality: San Francisco, California. Collected by Chamisso.

Book  (1939)  Page(s) 179.  
 
Key to the Species
Sepals, styles and upper part of the hypanthium persistent on the fruit; pistils numerous.
- Hypanthium normally smooth and glabrous.
-- Stems with stout prickles, rarely slender and weak in some segregates of R. californica; sepals often prolonged into foliaceous appendages; plats 2 to 10 feet high.
--- Prickles straight or nearly so, more or less flattened below, often ascending; stipules, rachis, and leaflets glandular....1. R. nutkana.
--- Prickles usually curved, or straight in some segragates of R. californica.
---- Pedicels glandular-hispid or bristly, the bristles often 1/8-inch long; sepals glandular-hispid, often pinnatifid....3. R. rubiginosa.
---- Pedicels usually not glandular-hispid-or bristly, sometimes glandular,; sepals often villous, not pinnatifid, but usually serrate....4. R. californica.

Key to the Species
Sepals, styles and upper part of the hypanthium persistent on the fruit; pistils numerous.
- Hypanthium normally smooth and glabrous.
-- Stems with slender straight (or nearly so) prickles.
--- Stipules, petioles, and rachises copiously glandular; leaflets with gland-tipped teeth....5. R. pinetorum.
--- Stipules, petioles, and rachises not conspiciously glandular.
---- Sepals usually without broad foliaceous tips.
----- Sepals decidely glandular....6. R. pisocarpa.
----- Sepals not glandular.
------ Flowers usually several in a cluster; leaflets pubescent beneath....7. R. ultramontana.
------ Flowers solitary or 2 or 3 in a cluster; leaflets glabrous on both surfaces, sometimes glaucous beneath....8. R. mohavensis.
---- Sepals normally with broad foliaceous tips....4. R. californica segregates.
 

Book  (28 Feb 1935)  Page(s) 53.  
 
R. californica although it proved almost impossible for budding purposes, I found it very easy to graft. Root-grafts were very successful if planted deep enough to discourage sucker growth. Roses like 'La France', 'Mme. Butterfly', and 'Radiance' did wonderfully well on it.

Book  (1930)  Page(s) 405.  
 
californica Cham et Schlecht.
A beautiful wil rose, which covers itself at the beginning of June with a rich bloom of bright deep pink coloured, single, almost 7 cm across flowers.

Website/Catalog  (1923)  Page(s) 49.  
 
Rosa Californica (Chamisso, 1127). An introduction from North America. Carmine-pink, floriferous and continuous blooming. Native of North America.

Book  (1919)  Page(s) 421.  
 
R. CALIFORNICA, Chamisso.
A shrub 5 to 8 ft. high, the stems armed with stout, hooked prickles. Leaves 3 to 5 ins. long, common stalk downy ; leaflets usually five or seven, oval or ovate, 1 to 1½ ins. long, smooth or slightly downy above, downy beneath, especially on the midrib and nerves, simply toothed. Flowers about 1½ ins. across, pink, frequently over a dozen in a cluster; stalk and calyx-tube smooth; sepals ½ in. or more long with expanded tips, sometimes smooth, sometimes downy. Fruit globose or slightly elongated, 1/3 to ½ in. wide, contracted into a prominent neck below the persisting erect sepals.
Native of Western N. America from British Columbia to California. It differs from R. pisocarpa in the hooked spines, more numerous flowers in a cluster, and larger fruit. It is represented in gardens by a very pretty double-flowered variety FLORE PLENO, and a dwarf one NANA.

Book  (1912)  Page(s) 47.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa Californica Cham. et Schlecht.