Wild (prickly) rose (Rosa acicularis). Fort Richardson Military Reservation, Anchorage, Alaska. 7 Jun 2004.
I’m busily tring to figure out the difference between this rose & two relatives, Nootka rose (Rosa nutkatensis) which is also indigenous to Alaska but in a more limited area, and Sitka rose (Rosa rugosa — or, as its known elsewhere, Rugosa rose — which is a native to China, Korea, & Japan, but was introduced to Alaska in 1902.
Wild/prickly rose itself is found throughout most of the circumpolar north. I was interested to find that in Finland its common name is Karjalan ruusu which means Karelian rose. Karelia is in eastern Finland and northwestern Russia, the Russian part having been stolen by the Soviet Union by means of war (the famous Winter War of 1939-1940).
