Spring 2024 Newsletter

Ethnobotany Stories

By Josh Higuera-Hood, AMLT Ethnobotany Specialist and Tribal Member

California wild rose (Rosa californica) is in the rose family, Rosaceae. In the Mutsun language, it’s called mamawkwa. California rose is a winter deciduous shrub that can reach heights of 8 -10 ft with widths of up to 10 ft. It has thorny curving stems and flowers that have five petals in different gradients of pink, from white to deep magenta. Flowers can grow in bunches of blooms or individually.

The California wild rose grows most amply in moist areas along streambanks, drainages, seeps, and near springs. It also grows in areas that are dry and get little rain, so it’s evolved like other California natives to be drought tolerant. The areas in which it can be found vary, from conifer forests to chaparral, grasslands, and wetland riparian areas at elevations between sea level and up to 6000 ft. It tolerates varied soil textures, including fine, medium, to coarse, and even moderate saline soils.

Indigenous peoples ate the buds fresh, and hips were eaten when ripe. Blossoms were soaked to create beverages. Tribes like Kawaiisu would use the unsplit stems in basketry. Chumash children would use fruits to make necklaces, earrings, and for decoration. It was also used by various tribes including the Mutsun as a medicine.

It’s a plant that can grow well in gardens, it can take full sun, part shade or full shade, and can take low, moderate, and even high levels of moisture. California wild rose is rhizomatous and can spread in moist favorable conditions. It should be planted in areas where it can expand, and it can take annual pruning to keep it looking neat, sometimes heavily if needed.

California rose is a pollinator plant used by many butterfly and native bee species. Fruits are often eaten by birds, deer and elk.