Cherokee Rose

Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) Facts, "Scientific name for the Cherokee Rose is Rosa Laevigata". It is a member of the rosa or rose genus, part of the Rosaceae family. It is a member of the Rosales order and is a eudicot. It is part of the Magnoliopsida class and Embryophyta phylum.

The Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) belongs in the Perennials Category. The Cherokee Rose Flower is actually native to China, but it received its name from the lore that arose around it during the Cherokee Trail of Tears after the rose was introduced to the U.S. around 1780. The Cherokee Rose Flower is also called the snow-white rose, Rosa viea and Rosier Blanc de Neige.

About the Cherokee Rose Species

The Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) is best known for the fragrant, bright white, two to four inch (5 to 10 cm) across flowers. Each flower stands alone on a lateral branch. It has pale green leaves one is about four inches (10 cm) long. The flower has a waxy surface. The flower’s stem has many bristles, as does the rose hip. It has a bright gold center surrounded by stamens. Each stem has five to seven leaves. The Cherokee Rose Flowers have a clove-like scent.
The plant is an evergreen shrub that climbs over other plants and trees. The Cherokee Rose Plant has stems up to twenty feet (6 meters) long. It forms dense mounds up to ten feet (3 meters) tall and fifteen feet (4.5 meters) wide, even climbing over other shrubs.
The Cherokee Rose Flower blooms in March and April. The fertilized flowers turn into a pear shaped fruit. In Indian summers, it sometimes blooms for a second time in the fall.

Habitat of Cherokee Rose

The Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) is found along roadsides, fences and wastelands. It is unusual in that it has naturalized in the southern United States as well as Japan. It grows almost anywhere there is warm weather, mild winters and enough rain.

Uses of Cherokee Rose

The Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) has been used to treat dysentery in the past. In Chinese medicine, the Chinese rose hip is a treatment for male sexual dysfunction. It has been used as a hair restorative. It grows fruit, but they are not edible for humans, though common rose hips are. The hairs around the seeds cause irritation to the stomach and mouth. However, the Cherokee Rose fruit are edible to birds.

Cherokee Rose Lore

The Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) was said to rise up where the Cherokee women shed tears over the deaths of children that died during the Trail of Tears, the tribe’s forced relocation from Georgia to Oklahoma in 1838. The Cherokee Rose Flower supposedly appeared as a sign to help the many grieving mothers. The golden center of the flower is supposed to represent the gold taken from the tribe. The seven leaves of the Cherokee Rose Flower (though not all flowers have this) is supposed to represent the seven clans of the Cherokee.
The Cherokee Rose Flower (Plant) does grow across the South, all the way from Georgia to Oklahoma, and along the route of the Trail of Tears.

Trivia of Cherokee Rose

The Cherokee Rose is the state flower (floral emblem) of the state of Georgia. It received this designation in 1916. The Georgia state fruit is the peach.
The Cherokee Rose is part of the logo of Georgia College Center for Georgia Studies.