Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange. vol. 2, pp. 35-36 (1827)
De plantis in expeditione speculatoria Romanzoffiana observatis dissere pergunt
Ad. de Chamisso et D. de Schlechtendal

3. ROSA, quan e San Francisco retulimus, californica, speciem novam esse suspicamur, specimina vero nostra multa desideranda relinquunt.— Rami glabri, aculeis stipularibus geminis, ceterum uti tota planta inermes. Aculei stipulares rectiusculi, subrecurvi, patentes. Folia trijuga, superiora bijuga; foliola ovata, obtuse, argute serrata, impar maximum circiter 9 lin. Longum, inferiora minora; subtus cum stipulis petiolisque inermibus tomentosa, supra pubescentia, omnino sicut tota planta eglandula, exceptis glandulis raris sessilibus in margine stipularum. Flores in apice ramorum subcorymboso-racemosi, 4-6; pedunculus pilis patulis hirtus, in infera parte foliolo ovato, integerrimo, sessili, amplectente (e stipulis folio deficiente transformatis enato) instructus. Germen ovoideum glabrum. Laciniae calycinae ovatae, longe acuminatae, acumine apice dilatato spathulato, extus pubescentes, intus tomentosae, et tomento albo in margine densiori ciliatae, albo-marginatae. Petala rosea. Flores magnitudine circiter R. pimpinellifoliae.

I disagree with the description of the bloom at Sangerhausen as "solitary." Rosa californica in both Northern California counties I've reviewed produces blooms in large terminal clusters. I just counted the number of hips in the top of a new cane: 120. Solitary bloom is not typical in either Marin County or in Sonoma County. The Jepson Manual's description is 1-20 blooms in an inflorescence, counting the cyme on each tiny stem as an inflorescence. The occasional solitary bloom is the exception, not the rule, both in my observation and in the descriptions of the species in its native range.

Completely drought tolerant, but OK with ordinary garden watering. Spreads slowly by suckers and forms small wild thicket, with long growing season new canes will make new blooms all summer into autumn. Wonderful scent, edible seedy hips.