The fruit of roses and a valuable source of Vitamin C.
From Roses (Krussmann) Page 244. The fruit arises from the receptacle (or hypanthium) as a berry-like fruit (hip). Hip shapes vary widely; basic shapes are shown in Fig. 116. They may be globose, subglobose, ovate, pear-shaped, spindle-shaped, flask-shaped, or a combination of these shapes. Externally, the fruit may be bald or have stalked glands or bristles; in the case of R. roxburghii, short, thick prickles cover the fruit; sometimes the hips are bloomy. Many of the cultivars are sterile, so cannot set fruit; when they ripen, the flower-stalks turn yellow and drop. Rose breeders prefer this sterility, because it leads to the much-desired "self-cleansing" of the inflorescences. With the exception of R. persica, R. stellata and R. minutifolia (which have dry fruits), the hips are always more or less fleshy. The color of the fruits is usually shades of red in most species as well as in the cultivated garden roses: R. foetida brick red; R. sericea, R. laevigata and R. bracteata, orange; R. persica and R. roxburghii, green; with R. pimpinellifolia and all its varieties, including R. harisonii, black; with R. hugonis, r. primula and R. stellata blackish-red to brown-red.
From Roses 1988 by Rodger Phillips & Martyn Rix, Refer to Pages 214-217 for many photos of different hips.
See also Modern Roses 9 inside front cover for many different hip photos.
[From The Charm of Old Roses, by Nancy Steen, p. 228:] The fruit of all Rugosas retain the typical, long, curled sepals of this family, many other roses lose their calyx lobes as soon as the fruit forms.
Gerda Fritz from Hamburg says the German word for "rose hips" is "hagebutte".
From Patricia Routley’s comments in ‘Other’ on HelpMeFind.com April 4, 2012
Usually. Sometimes, Never
HIP COLOUR. (Young? Mature?) Pale, Bright, Brilliant, Deep, Dark.
Hanging, nodding, upright, erect.
HIP TEXTURE & SKIN or Pubescence
Thick, Pulpy (rugosa & Damask),
Dry & hard,
Glabrous (without hairs);
Smooth (without roughness) (China, Bourbon)
Nude (with neither hairs nor glands)
Bristly or hispid (covered with bristles and prickles) (Alba)
Prickly (bearing small prickles)
Viscous, (covered with a sticky, moist material, which is ordinarily scented)
Hispid-glandulose (having bristles terminating in a gland.
Rugose (covered with small roughness’s
HIP SIZE Length: _________ Width: _____________
Tiny, Small, Pea size, Marble size, Large, Pendulous.
Round (Gallicas – not oval)
Pisiform (small and rounded, in the form of a pea)
Subglobose with fleshy stalk.
Constricted (narrowed in one part, then inflated above and below)
A smooth-flowing vase shape (some Hybrid Perpetuals)
Compressed (flattened on both sides)
Depressed (flattened at the summit or the base so as to be wider than long) (some Teas) [Chinas are never depressed USA ARA 1938-13)
Turbinate (like a spinning top)
Very open (large throat), hardly open, closed at the throat, raised rim, no rim.
Top of the fruit (sepals) falls off when ripe
Top of the fruit (sepals) remains attached when ripe.