Rosa fedtschenkoana is a species in the plant genus Rosa in the family Rosaceae. Some authorities consider it a synonym of Rosa webbiana. It is native to the foothills of the Ala Tau, Tian Shan and Pamir-Alai mountain ranges in central Asia and northwest China.Phillips, R. and Rix, M., The Ultimate Guide to Roses, Macmillan, 2004, p22 It is named after Olga Fédchenko, a Russian botanist. It is deciduous, forming a bushy and suckering shrub up to 2.5 metres high and as much across. The branches are covered in many prickles, many of which are fine and straight, but some are thicker and slightly hooked. The pinnate leaves are pale greyish green in colour and have usually between 7 and 9 leaflets. The flowers are white, up to 5 cm across, and are borne singly or in small clusters at the tips of the branches throughout the summer months.Quest-Ritson, C. and Quest-Ritson, B., The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Roses, Dorling Kindersley, 2003, p147 The flowers' scent has been described as being "like 'Hovis' [brown] bread with a little blackberry jam".Marriott, M., The Rose (quarterly journal of The Royal National Rose Society), Volume 100, Part 2, Summer 2006, p64 The flowers are followed by small, pear-shaped, bristly orange-red fruits.Hillier Nurseries, The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs, David & Charles, 1998, p580
Recent DNA research has discovered that R. fedtschenkoana is one of the parents of the damask group of garden roses (the other species involved being R. moschata and R. gallica).Quest-Ritson, C. and Quest-Ritson, B., The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Roses, Dorling Kindersley, 2003, p9 This accounts for the remontant (repeat-flowering) nature of some damasks (the autumn damasks), as R. fedtschenkoana is one of the few remontant wild roses.
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