Multiflora rose is a very invasive species that often appears alongside the autumn olive plants. Its origin is similar as both are native to Japan, China and Korea. Multiflora rose was imported to the United States in about 1866 as a rootstock for grafted, domestic, ornamental rose varieties. Because of its dense, impenetrable growth habit, it was planted in rows to form a living fence to control livestock. Other uses were erosion control and providing both cover and food for wildlife. The plant’s thick display of numerous, small white flowers allowed it to find its way into personal yards and flower gardens and often remains that way today!
However, this plant had a mind of its own, frequently escaping to the wild. With the help of birds, it found its way into nearby vacant lots, fence rows, pastures and other unused yards and woodlots. This plant has come under fire in numerous areas of the United States and the Midwest for its invasive habits. Its overwhelming presence in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts has led to bans on the importation, distribution and sale of multiflora rose. Other states declared the plant invasive.
By 1960 many researchers saw the dominating and progressive nature of this shrub and issued warnings about its invasive features and threats to our unmanaged, natural areas. However, many state-run Natural Resource and Conservation Agencies still encouraged land owners, hunting clubs and wildlife enthusiasts to plant this species for wildlife habitat and food. Michigan was one of them, as the Department of Natural Resources propagated this plant in a nursery near Gregory, as I recall. You see, when I lived on a farm in northwestern Shiawassee County, a farmer a few miles away had planted a row of this shrub behind his abandoned dairy buildings. The row became tall, thick, wider than its height, extending perpendicular to the roadway. In the winter months, this mature, impenetrable, arching rose bush was always filled with numerous pheasants, quail and cottontail rabbits! These bushes provided protection from avian predators and even some furbearers while, at the same time, offering berries and seeds for food.
This was an encouraging scenario for me as an avid upland game bird hunter to someday own a place where I could grow this species to help retain our desirable game animals! A few years later, when I obtained our Ingham County farm, purchasing and planting some of these plants was on the front burner on my vast “to-do” list. Therefore, I made arrangements to pick up a packet of multiflora roses from the DNR nursery. I discussed the nature of this species with the nursery supervisor, and he assured me that this shrub’s fruit could not survive Michigan’s cold winters; therefore, there was little danger of it spreading to unwanted areas! They even collected the seeds in the fall to ensure their viability was not diminished.
I was excited about my proposed new pheasant habitat. However, after planting a small packet of this shrub, I took my beagles and met my brother at his farm, also in northwestern Shiawassee County, for a rabbit hunt in his large woodlot that was saturated with multiflora rose. Granted, it was filled with wintering wildlife, and we bagged several cottontails but had to view the hounds’ pursuits from the perimeter. We couldn’t even retrieve the rabbits because of the thick, ten-foot-high, thick plants. Thankfully, my beagle, Carla, retrieved them for us.
The following weekend, as I began to load up my beagles and head for a field trial in Pennsylvania, the hounds bawled in sharp pain as I picked them up to place them in the truck. I discovered that their bellies were one big scab where the numerous, hooked thorns had actually torn meat off from the dog’s undersides and legs while pursuing bunnies through the multiflora rose! When I walked the Pennsylvania beagle club, I discovered multiflora rose had also practically taken over large areas of the grounds! These experiences were enough for me as when I returned home, I destroyed my small, none seed-bearing plants immediately!
As we speak our Barry County farm is surrounded by property where multiflora rose has created woodlots similar to my brothers. We have to spray new seedlings every year to prevent both of our farms from becoming impenetrable! I once experienced the pain my beagles had gone through when I was attacked by a wounded buck just inside my neighbor’s woodlot that was and is overrun by these invasives. The buck unexpectantly knocked me down in the middle of these large bushes and worked me over for about 45 minutes before I could overcome him! My clothes were torn, and my face and hands bloodied, however the multiflora rose did more damage than the deer.
This plant belongs to the very large rose family, Rosaceae, and goes by the binomial Rosa multiflora Thunb. This plant grows long, multiple canes that can reach up to 15 feet in length. As these bright green, arching cane tips reach the ground, they can grow a new, independent plant, much like domestic black raspberries do. This process is called “layering” and contributes to the establishment of very dense stands of this bush. However, the main source of this species’s spread and encroachment into neighboring properties is much like the autumn olive, through bird dispersion of the multiple, quarter-inch size red berries that contain 10 small seeds each. Some writers claim that an average mature plant can produce up to half a million seeds annually! Every fruit has the potential of producing ten more plants each and these seeds can maintain their viability for up to twenty years in the soil! Most of the seeds drop in close proximity to the mother plant, therefore explaining why the shrubs grow as clumps, in fencerows and thickets that are impossible to penetrate! These single-arching canes possess a pair of sharp, hooked, recurved thorns on the internodes located between the leaf stems. They can inflict serious damage to both man and animals that try to penetrate these plant thickets!
The leaves are attached alternately on the canes are pinnately compound containing 5 to 7 leaflets that appear to be sessile or on very short petioles. They range from one to three inches long, are ovate or football-shaped and are the widest towards the stem end. The upper surface is bright green with a pointed apex and finely toothed margins. The white or sometimes pink flowers appear in mid-May in clusters off the long canes. They are showy and fragrant with five petals and contain numerous pollen-bearing stamens attached to the center of the flower, causing a contrasting bright yellow color. The best time to recognize the multiflora rose shrub is during blossom time, as these plants produce small, multiple white flowers, about one inch in diameter, for about two weeks during May.
The multiflora rose can stand shade but prefers sunlight. It thrives in both woodlots and in seldom-used areas and fencerows. Due to the prolific amount of seeds produced, their long viability range, along with many of our citizens’ reluctance to remove the plants, it is almost impossible to contain this species’s spread throughout lower Michigan! As long as these shrubs are perceived to have aesthetic characteristics of the rose family and produce food and cover for wildlife, we will probably never be able to completely eradicate these invasive plants from Michigan, nor anywhere else! As with many other noxious weeds, shrubs and trees, multiflora rose was promoted for all of the wrong reasons and is still planted throughout the Northeastern United States. It has now spread into most vacant and unused areas of both private and public lands in our State and beyond! Short of a serious disease or introduced predator, multiflora rose is likely to remain with us forever!
