Multiflora Rose

Common Name: Multifora Rose or Japanese Rose

Specific Name: Rosa multiflora

Known Occurrence at Taylor Point:

Map areas: Cliffs 2B, Woodlands 3A, Woodlands 3B, Woodlands 3C, Woodlands 3D, Bridge 4A

Category: Invasive, Non-Native, Shrub

Ecological Considerations:

Rosa multiflora is a thorny, perennial shrub with arching stems (canes). In early summer clusters of showy, fragrant, white to pink flowers emerge, giving way, as the summer progresses, to small bright red fruits, or rose hips. The rose hips remain on the plant through the winter.

Multiflora rose is tolerant of a variety of soil types, moisture, and light conditions. Multiflora rose grows well in open woodlands, dense woodlands, alongside streams and roadways, on the edges of forests, in pastures and open fields, and in areas that have been disturbed.

Problems Posed by this Plant:

Rosa multiflora is extremely prolific and can form dense thickets that exclude native plant species.

Native Species Affected by this Plant:

Factors Affording a Competitive Advantage to this Plant: Multiflora Rose reproduces by seed. It also can form new plants that root from the tips of arching canes in contact with the ground (layering). The fruits are readily ingested by birds and mammals; the primary dispersers of its seed. It has been estimated that an average multiflora rose plant may produce a million seeds per year, which may remain viable in the soil for up to twenty years.

Propagation Mechanisms and Related Issues Affecting Efforts to Remove and/or Eliminate this Plant from Taylor Point:

Rosa multiflora is highly adaptable and reproduces both from seeds and vegetatively through layering. It is highly adaptable to a wide variety of growing conditions and grows rapidly creating dense thickets, monocultures that prevent the growth of native species.

Documented Best Removal Practices and Options/Pros and Cons of Various Options:

Hand-pull small plants. Repeated cutting and mowing of larger plants throughout the growing season will help eradicate them. Use a weed wrench to remove older plants. If a plant is too large for removal via a weed wrench, use loppers to cut it and then cover the cut stumps with Buckthorn Baggies. (Suzanne Enser, TPRA CRMC Permit Request Support paper)

Mechanical and chemical methods are currently the predominant methods for managing Multiflora Rose. Monitor paths, edges and open areas. Dig out small plants and remove all roots. Frequent, repeated cutting or mowing (preferably three to six times per growing season, for two to four years), has been shown to be an effective control regimen. In high quality natural communities, cutting of individual plants is preferred to site mowing to minimize habitat disturbance. Treat cut stems with herbicide for more effective control. Basal bark treatment can also prove effective – spray the bottom 18 inches of all stems.

Foliar herbicide treatment may be effective where few natives are present.

Case Studies of Removal Efforts, Lessons Learned and Recommendations:

Additional Photos: