Mawar or Bengal rose or China rose (Rosa chinensis) is a plant species in Rosaceae, shrubs up to 1-2 m tall, growing on fences or forming bushes. Leaf pinnate, 3-5 leaflets, each 2.5-6 cm long and 1-3 cm wide.
R. chinensis has pink, red, white petals and mild aroma. Hermaphrodite flowers have radial symmetry for diameters of 4-5 cm. Strong branches, sturdy thorns, young stems have dark green tree bark and woody old stems have purplish brown. The leaves are arranged alternately from the petiole and downy. Leaf pinnate, ovoid with rounded base, tapered tip, sharp saw edge, the top are dark green and shiny.
Various forms of mawar have been cultivated in the garden for a long time, many varieties of garden roses and hybridation as tea roses and so on hybrid tea roses. Cultivars have become important in breeding many modern garden by giving them the characteristic of repeated blooms.
The most well-known hybrid tea varieties are Coctail, Diplomat, Idole, Jacaranda, Laminuette, Osiana, Pareo, Samorai, Sonate de Meilland, Sonia, Sweet Sonia, Tineke, Vivaldi, White Success and Yonina. Some varieties for cut flowers in the tropics are Cemelot, Frad Winds, Mr. Lincoln, and Golden Lustee. As for the garden plants are Folk Song, Khatherina Zeimet, Woborn Abbey and Cimacan Salem.
Young vegetative plant parts and flowers brewed or eaten as a kitchen concoction as a soup. The thin fleshy layer surrounding the seeds is eaten raw or cooked. Seeds are a great source of vitamin E after being ground and mixed with flour or added to other foods. Oil extraction as perfume and medicine ingredients.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Rosoideae
Tribe: Roseae
Genus: Rosa L. in Sp. Pl.: 491 (1753)
Subgenus Rosa
Section Chinenses
Species: Rosa chinensis Jacq. in Observ. Bot. 3: 7 (1768)
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS
Rosa bengalensis chinensis (Jacq.) Pers. in Syn. Pl. 2: 50 (1806)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS
Rosa bengalensis Pers. (1806)
Rosa bengalensis odorata Wallr. in Ros. Pl. Gen. Hist.: 107 (1828)
Rosa bengalensis odoratissima Wallr. (1828)
Rosa chinensis var. devoniensis Rehder in L.H.Bailey, Cycl. Amer. Hort. 4: 1551 (1902)
Rosa chinensis subsp. indica Koehne in Deut. Dendrol.: 281 (1893)
Rosa chinensis proles indica (Koehne) R.Keller in P.F.A.Ascherson & K.O.R.Graebner, Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 6(1): 45 (1900)
Rosa chinensis var. indica (Koehne) Rehder (1902)
Rosa chinensis var. longifolia (Willd.) Rehder (1902)
Rosa chinensis var. minima (Sims) Voss in Vilm. Blumengärtn., ed. 3. 1: 257 (1894)
Rosa chinensis semperflorens K.Koch in Dendrologie 1: 273 (1869)
Rosa chinensis var. semperflorens (W.M.Curtis) Koehne (1893)
Rosa chinensis proles semperflorens (W.M.Curtis) R.Keller (1900)
Rosa chinensis var. spontanea (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) T.T.Yu & T.C.Ku in Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 37: 423 (1985)
Rosa chinensis f. spontanea Rehder & E.H.Wilson in C.S.Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 2: 320 (1915)
Rosa chinensis f. viridiflora (Lavallée) C.K.Schneid. in Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 1: 546 (1905)
Rosa chinensis viridiflora Dippel in Handb. Laubholzk. 3: 562 (1893)
Rosa diversifolia Vent. in Descr. Pl. Nouv.: t. 35 (1801)
Rosa diversifolia var. viridiflora Lavallée in Hort. Franç. 1856: 218 (1856)
Rosa indica Lindl. in Ros. Monogr.: 106 (1820)
Rosa indica Lour. in Fl. Cochinch.: 323 (1790)
Rosa indica var. bengalensis K.Koch in Hort. Dendrol.: 122 (1853)
Rosa indica var. humilis Ser. in Mél. Bot. 1: 44 (1818)
Rosa indica var. longifolia (Willd.) Lindl. (1820)
Rosa indica var. minima Bean in Trees & Shrubs Brit. Isles 2: 430 (1914)
Rosa indica var. pumila (Thory) Lindl. (1820)
Rosa indica pumila Thory in P.J.Redouté & C.A.Thory, Roses 1: 115 (1817)
Rosa indica var. semperflorens (W.M.Curtis) Ser. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 2: 601 (1825)
Rosa indica var. vulgaris Thory (1817)
Rosa laurentiae Tratt. in Rosac. Monogr. 1: 105 (1823)
Rosa lawranceana Sweet in Hort. Suburb. Lond.: 119 (1818)
Rosa longifolia Willd. in Sp. Pl., ed. 4. 2: 1097 (1799)
Rosa monstrosa Breiter in Hort. Breiter.: 425 (1817)
Rosa nankinensis Lour. in Fl. Cochinch. 1: 324 (1790)
Rosa nanula Hoffmanns. in Verz. Pfl.-Kult.: 108 (1824)
Rosa rouletii Correvon in Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 72: 342 (1922)
Rosa semperflorens W.M.Curtis in Bot. Mag. 8: t. 284 (1794)
Rosa semperflorens carnea Redouté in P.J.Redouté & C.A.Thory, Roses 1: t. 19 (1817)
Rosa semperflorens var. longifolia (Willd.) Regel in Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 5: 356 (1878)
Rosa semperflorens var. manettii Regel (1878)
Rosa semperflorens var. minima Sims in Bot. Mag. 42: t. 1762 (1815)
Rosa semperflorens minor Andrews in Roses Monogr. 2: t. 73 (1826)
Rosa semperflorens var. molinerii Spin in Jard. St. Sebastien, ed. 1818: 33 (1818)
Rosa semperflorens simplex Andrews (1805-1828)
Rosa semperflorens var. viridiflora Regel (1878)
Rosa sinica L. in J.A.Murray (ed.), Syst. Veg., ed. 13.: 394 (1774)
Rosa sinica var. typica Regel (1878)
PUBLICATIONS
Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.
Chang, C.S., Kim, H. & Chang, K.S. (2014). Provisional checklist of vascular plants for the Korea peninsula flora (KPF): 1-660. DESIGNPOST.
Delipavlov, D. & Cheshmedzhiev, I. (eds.) (2011). Opredelitel na rasteniiata v Bulgariia: 1-590. Akad. Isd. Agrar. Univers. Plovdiv.
Exell, A.W. (1973). Angiosperms of the islands of the gulf of Guinea (Fernando Po, Príncipe, S.Tomé, and Annobon). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Botany 4: 325-411.
Hnatiuk, R.J. (1990). Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series 11: 1-650.
Korovin, E.P. & Vvedensky, A.I. (eds.) (1955). Flora Uzbekistana 3: 1-824. Izd-va Akademii nauk Uzbekskoi SSR, Tashkent.
Kral, R., Diamond, A.R., Ginzbarg, S.L., Hansen, C.J., Haynes, R.R., Keener, B.R., Lelong, M.G., Spaulding, D.D. & Woods, M. (2011). Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Alabama: 1-112. Botanical reseach institute of Texas.
Landrein, S. & al. (2009). Flora of Pakistan 216: 1-138. Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi.
Paelov, N.V. (ed.) in Pavlov, N.V. (ed.) (1961). Flora Kazakhstana 4: 1-546. Alma-Ata, Izd-vo Akademii nauk Kazakhskoi SSR.
Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.
Singh, N.P. & al. (eds.) (2002). Flora of Mizoram 1: 1-845. Botanical Survey of India.
Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.
Vidal, J.E. (1968). Flore du Cambodge du Laos et du Viêt-Nam 6: 1-210. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2003). Flora of China 9: 1-494. Science Press (Beijing) & Missouri Botanical Garden Press (St. Louis).
Zhao, Y.Z., Zhao, L.Q. & Rui, C. (eds.) (2019). Flora Intramongolica, edition 3, 2: 1-579. Typis Intramongolicae popularis, Huhhot.
VERNACULAR NAME
Czech: Růže čínská
Dutch: Chinese roos
English: Bengal rose, China rose, Chinese rose
Estonian: Hiina kibuvits, Hiina roos, Teeroos
French: Rosier de Chine
Hebrew: ורד סין
Hindi: चीन गुलाब
Indonesian: Mawar, Mawar Tiongkok, Mawar Benggala, Kirmizi Benggala, Kecantikan Benggala
Japanese: コウシンバラ - チャイナローズ - ロサ・キネンシス -庚申薔薇
Korean: 월계화
Lithuanian: Kininė rožė
Polish: Róża chińska
Russian: Роза китайская - Роза чайная - Шиповник китайский
Slovak: Ruža čínska
Spanish: Rosa china, Rosa de Castilla
Swedish: Kinaros
Turkish: Menekşe Gülü
Ukrainian: Троянда китайська
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