All in the Family

We're not talking about Edith and Archie here folks; nor are we going to delve into the mind-numbing science of plant taxonomy. Either of those topics is worthy of a post - or an entire book for that matter. However, sometimes it's the little things about botany that fascinate and amuse us here at Wildflower Blog Central. Today, let's take a quick look some family members who may surprise you.

Native Nootka Rose

Imagine going to a summer family reunion picnic - and looking around at all the children, adults, spouses, and a few dogs too - and thinking "how can all these oddballs be related?" That's kind of what this post is about.

All of the plants you'll see in this post are local and blooming now or were blooming recently. They are all members of the Rose or Rosacaea family of plants - of course this family includes the familiar rose bushes we see around here all summer - as well as nearly 3000 other species! It's a large picnic for this family reunion! And after all, June is Rose Festival month here in our area.


What's similar about these plants that puts them in the same family, you may wonder? This is where the science gets a bit sticky, but in general the original, wild versions of the plants have 5 sepals and 5 petals, are symetrical, and considered "showy." Most of the flowers are pinkish or white, although you can see an exception below. The leaves are usually serrated and arranged in a spiral or opposite each other. The seeds vary, but are generally in a fruit of some sort. The Rose family goes back some 35 million years, as evidenced by fossils found in Colorado.

Rose family members have a huge economic impact, not only from the ornamental rose industry, but fruit trees as well, including apples, almonds, and many berries. See the links below for expanded Rose family information.

Plant classification in general is dynamic as botanists and taxonomists are constantly refining the membership of plants based on modern science and new tools. In 1927, after several fruit trees were added to the Rose family by taxonimists, Rober Frost penned his famous Rose Family poem:

The rose is a rose,

And was always a rose.

But the theory now goes

That the apple's a rose,

And the pear is, and so's

The plum, I suppose.

The dear only knows

What will next prove a rose.

You, of course, are a rose -

But were always a rose. 

Getting back to the current day and age, here's just a few of the native Rose family members you might know if you were to crash that big family reunion picnic!

  

Thimbleberry - Rubus parviflorus

Goatsbeard - Aruncus dioicus

Pacific Silverweed - Argentina egedii 

   

Douglas Spirea - Spiraea douglasii and
Ocean Spray - Holodiscus discolor

 

Salmonberry - Rubus spectabilis

Trailing Blackberry - Rubus ursinus

And to close out this post, here's a bit more about the Trailing Blackberry, our only native blackberry plant in the Northwest. It often gets a bad rap but is quite different than the non-native, invasive Himalayan Blackberry. It was extensively used by native peoples for healing sores and making teas for drinking. It has also served as a base for many tasty blackberry cultivars we enjoy in the summer!

Rose Family Article

Trailing Blackberry Cultivars