Rosa setigera (Illinois Rose)

Rosa setigera (Illinois Rose)

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Climbing prairie rose arches through open ground or into supporting vegetation. Even moisture suits its long stems, while both standing water and drought cause problems.

Sun exposure for Rosa setigera: full to partial sun. Soil conditions: evenly moist to mesic; avoid standing water and droughty soil. Recorded habitats include moist to mesic prairies; Savannas; Thickets; Woodland edges and clearings; Acidic gravel seeps. Reported height: canes 4–12 ft long; arching to about 3 ft high without support.

Growth habit: woody vine reproducing through seed and stem suckering. Allow space for this growth between neighboring plants over several seasons, rather than spacing only for the size of a young plant.

Plant specifications

Key growing facts

Sunlight Full to partial sun
Soil moisture Evenly moist to mesic; avoid standing water and droughty soil
Height Canes 4–12 ft long; arching to about 3 ft high without support
Bloom season Early to mid-summer
Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
Growth habit Woody vine reproducing through seed and stem suckering
Root form Taproot
Soil pH Published cultivation guidance lists acidic, neutral soil conditions; no optimal numeric interval is established.
Cultivation hardiness zones Zones 4a–8b (general cultivation guidance)
Drought tolerance Drought-sensitive; prefers consistently mesic soil
Salt tolerance None

Plant identification & seed reference

Botanical name Rosa setigera
Other common names smooth illinois rose; Climbing Prairie Rose; Climbing Rose; Climbing Wild Rose; Prairie Rose
Seed germination USDA lists cold stratification as required; duration is not specified.
Plant family Rosaceae
Seeds per pound — reference estimate 50000

Plant characteristics

Spreading native shrub or climber (to 15' tall with support); typically occurs in moist soils along streams, in prairie thickets, along roads, fencerows, and in clearings. Deep pink, single flowers with mild fragrance. Foliage turns variable but attractive shades of deep red, purple in late autumn. Produces red hips in early autumn that are a winter treat for birds!

  • Flower Color Pink
  • Flower Time June, July, August
  •   

    Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associatesNo verified list yet

    Illinois woodland and stream communities

    Middle Fork Woods, Vermilion County (1999–2002 survey). Recorded in: perennial stream corridor.

    Perennial stream corridor — selected native associates: Phlox divaricata, Sorghastrum nutans, Acer saccharinum.

    These plants share a recorded habitat; they were not necessarily found in the same small plot.

    Spring Bay Fen Nature Preserve — wet-mesic floodplain forest

    Surveyed in 2007, 2008 and 2011. Wet-mesic floodplain forest recorded separately from the adjoining fen. These dated records do not establish presence today.

    Other native plants recorded in this surveyed community: Acer nigrum, Acer saccharinum, Agastache nepetoides, Amorpha fruticosa, Anemone canadensis, Arisaema dracontium, Arisaema triphyllum, Blephilia hirsuta, Carex blanda, Carex emoryi.

    Murphy, Phillippe & Ebinger 2021, Appendix 1. Selected associates from the same community; records do not show immediate neighbors or prescribe planting ratios.

    Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value

    State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.

    Wetland indicator — NWPL 2022 Midwest FACU
    C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 5
    Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 Yes
    Native range — U.S. states Alabama; Arkansas; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Mississippi; Missouri; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Vermont; Virginia; West Virginia; Wisconsin
    County nativity Cook County, Illinois — native-remnant population documented in the 2000 survey. Partial county coverage; other counties have not yet been assessed here.
    Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife

    Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects

    This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.

    Moths

    • Coptotriche roseticola
    • Stigmella rosaefoliella
    Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions

    What are the ideal growing conditions for Illinois Rose?
    Light: Full to partial sun. Soil moisture: Evenly moist to mesic; avoid standing water and droughty soil.

    How do I germinate and establish Illinois Rose from seed?
    USDA lists cold stratification as required; duration is not specified.

    Is Illinois Rose deer and herbivore resistant?
    Species-specific deer resistance has not been verified here. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.

    When should I expect Illinois Rose to bloom?
    Typical flowering period: Early to mid-summer. Timing varies with location and weather.

    Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes

    Illinois woodland records: Larimore, Phillippe & Ebinger (2008), Middle Fork Woods flora, Appendix I. © 2008 University of Illinois Board of Trustees, CC BY 4.0. Habitat records transcribed, selected and linked to catalog names by Natural Communities. Survey: 1999–2002.

    Illinois communities & local records: Shouba & Murray: Wolf Road Prairie, Cook County (2000).

    Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; USACE Chicago FQA (2017); Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online; USACE National Wetland Plant List.

    Growing conditions & other references: Illinois Wildflowers, John Hilty; USDA NRCS PLANTS; NC State Extension Plant Toolbox.

    Wildlife records: Shropshire & Tallamy: caterpillar hosts (2025).

    Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.

    Research notes & credits

    USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication. Retained for comparison; the displayed C-value follows Flora database 80.

    Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.

    Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.

    Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.

    Caterpillar research records

    Plant: Rosa setigera

    Record scope: Host literature synthesis; no county nativity or local insect occurrence inferred.

    Shropshire & Tallamy (2025) · Original research dataset · Reuse license: ODbL-1.0

    Plant names in the source Source insect record IDs
    Rosa setigera 203483, 211844

    How these records were selected

    To reproduce this selection, use the “UDELep May 2025” worksheet in the original research dataset.

    1. Match the insect record IDs above to column A (UDLepID). Within each table row, pair every listed insect ID with every listed source plant name.
    2. Use the first two words in column H for the insect’s scientific name, column E for its common name, and column AB for its source category.
    3. Treat the selected pairs as reported caterpillar host records. Keep all other source fields unchanged and outside this selected table. Include no other rows or host pairs.
    4. Group butterflies and skippers together, and the other categories as moths. Retain the source’s exotic-category labels and sort display names by scientific insect name.

    Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.

    Additional community records: Murphy, Phillippe & Ebinger (2021), Spring Bay Fen flora and vegetation. Selected facts and taxonomic links; source spellings and historical survey dates retained.

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