Blooms of a yellow roseA rose is a perennial flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. It is a common error to refer to roses having thorns. But thorns are modified leaves, whereas these sharp protrusions on a rose are modified epidermal tissues (prickles). Most are native to Asia, with smaller numbers of species native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Natives, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and fragrance. [1]

The leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with sharply toothed oval-shaped leaflets. The plant's fleshy edible fruit is called a rose hip. Rose plants range in size from puny, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 20 meters in height. Species from different parts of the world easily hybridize, which has given rise to the many types of garden roses.

The name originates from Latin rosa, borrowed from Oscan from colonial Greek in southern Italy: rhodon (Aeolic form: wrodon), from Aramaic wurrdā, from Assyrian wurtinnu, from Old Iranian *warda (cf. Armenian vard, Avestan warda, Sogdian ward, Also the Hebrew ורד = vered and the Aramaic ורדא: these preceded the Greek above. Parthian wâr).[2][3]