Common Name: ROSE FAMILY
Habit: Annual to tree, glandular or not. Leaf: simple to palmately or pinnately compound, generally alternate; stipules free to fused (0), persistent to deciduous. Inflorescence: cyme, raceme, panicle, cluster, or flowers 1; bractlets on pedicel ("pedicel bractlets") generally 0--3(many), subtended by bract or generally not. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium free or fused to ovary, saucer- to funnel-shaped, subtending bractlets ("hypanthium bractlets") 0--5, alternate sepals; sepals generally 5; petals generally 5, free; stamens (0,1)5--many, anther pollen sacs generally 2; pistils (0)1--many, simple or compound, ovary superior to inferior, styles 1--5. Fruit: 1--many per flower, achene (fleshy-coated or not), follicle, drupe, or pome with generally papery core, occasionally drupe-like with 1--5 stones. Seed: generally 1--5 (per fruit, not per flower).
Genera In Family: 110 genera, +- 3000 species: worldwide, especially temperate; many cultivated for ornament, fruit, especially Cotoneaster, Fragaria, Malus, Prunus, Pyracantha, Rosa, Rubus. Note: Number of teeth is per leaf or leaflet, not per side of leaf or leaflet, except in Drymocallis.
eFlora Treatment Author: Daniel Potter & Barbara Ertter, family description, key to genera, treatment of genera by Daniel Potter, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Daniel Potter, Thomas J. Rosatti.

Habit: Shrub, +- evergreen; thorns often leafy or branched. Leaf: simple, +- evergreen, margin generally rolled under, unlobed, entire to toothed; stipules early-deciduous; petiole short. Inflorescence: raceme or panicle at ends of short-shoots; pedicel bractlets 0. Flower: hypanthium bractlets 0; sepals persistent; petals white; stamens 20, fused at base; ovary 1/2-inferior, chambers 5. Fruit: pome, drupe-like, +- spheric or depressed-spheric, open at top, stones 5, free, 2-ovuled.
Etymology: (Greek: fire thorn, from fruit color, thorns) Note: Fruiting Jun--Apr.
eFlora Treatment Author: Peter F. Zika