Chopped dried rose hips can be purchased from a supermarket in town that stocks an impressive variety of useful bulk herbs. They are used as a dietary supplement and remedy for several minor ailments. Although most of the copious vitamin C they contain while fresh is ruined by drying and storage, they are still popularly used as a remedy or preventative for colds and flu.
It would be reasonable to assume that the rose hips that are available in markets would be from a species that has been cultivated and developed for a few centuries. After all, rose hips have been used as an herbal supplement for a very long time. Surprisingly, those that are available in the local market here are from the common and native California wild rose, Rosa californica.
That means that those that grow wild on the outskirts of the landscapes here produce the same rose hips that can be purchased in markets. There are only a few others species of wild rose that grow wild in California, and even fewer that are endemic locally. Those in the picture were actually planted into a landscape composed of natives, but are thought to be Rosa californica.
I normally leave these rose hips for the birds; but because the birds take all my cotoneaster berries, I am not too worried bout them getting enough to eat. I left the rose hips that are pretty where they can be seen, but took quite a few that were out of view on the backside of a riparian thicket of rose bramble. I do not yet know what to do with them, but will figure that out later.
Once dried, these rose hips will be easily pulverized into coarse and seedy ‘grounds’ that can be added to blends of herbal tea.
Tony Tomeo 
Makes sense it is the native wild rose to make medicine…what fabulous rose hips!
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These roses were never bred for such applications. Native people who consumed them used them as they were found growing wild. I would expect those that were cultivated for such applications, and bred for a long time, to be of superior quality.
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As kids, I remember we picked them (growing wild) to try to make itching powder!
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Ew! Did it work?
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These are beautiful rose hips. I remember collecting them as a child. I think we used them in tea. The most amazing looking rose hips I have ever seen were on a rosa rugosa hedge in coastal Maine–almost pear shaped and very large. Not sure if those have medicinal value, but they were lovely to look at.
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Actually, I believe that Rosa rugosa hips are favored by those who know them. Rose hips are commonly used to flavor tea. That is what mine will be used for.
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I am told they were used during the war as a source of vitamin c for children. I would rather enjoy the hips as a valuable contribution to the winter garden.
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That is why I left those that were within view from the road. Birds take most other berries, but might leave these into winter.
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Growing up, I had a friend whose family was Taiwanese. His mother used to make the most delicious pastries stuffed with sugared rose hips. My roses tend to have very small hips, but the birds seem to eat them up pretty quickly.
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That is interesting because I have never found rose hips that were good enough to eat. I have heard of them, but never seen them. Mine have very hard seeds. They are fine for tea because they get strained out. Fancy hybrid tea roses make nice big soft hips, but they lack flavor.
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Now that I think of it, they might have been stuffed with sugared rose petals.
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Reblogged this on Tony Tomeo and commented:
Oh, there were certainly more of these when this posted three years ago. Since then, much of the overgrowth was removed, and remaining vegetation was pruned back accordingly.
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