Rosa filipes is a species of rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 native to western China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, in Gansu

Gansu

' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...

, Shaanxi

Shaanxi

' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

, Sichuan

Sichuan

' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...

, Xizang, and Yunnan

Yunnan

Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...

.

It is a deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 climbing shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

, growing to 3–5 m, rarely up to 9 m tall. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are pinnate, 8–14 cm long, with 5-7 leaflets. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are white, 2-2.5 cm diameter with five petals, produced in large 15–30 cm diameter corymbs of up to 100 flowers. The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a red 8–15 mm diameter hip

Rose hip

The rose hip, or rose haw, is the fruit of the rose plant, that typically is red-to-orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form in spring, and ripen in late summer through autumn.-Usage:...

. The plant is very vigourous, with stiff upright stems protected by large and frequent thorns. They allow growing stems to anchor on to tree branches and climb to a great height.

Cultivation and uses

It is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

 in gardens, valued for its unusually large clusters of flowers compared to other roses, sometimes also for its size, and its ability to climb into trees.

The cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

 'Kiftsgate' was first noticed at Kiftsgate Court Gardens

Kiftsgate Court Gardens

Kiftsgate Court Gardens is situated above the village of Mickleton in the county of Gloucestershire, in the far north of the county close to the county border with both Worcestershire and Warwickshire....

 in the Cotswolds

Cotswolds

The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

, but its origin is unknown. The original plant dates from 1938 and the cultivar was named by Graham Stuart Thomas

Graham Stuart Thomas

Graham Stuart Thomas OBE , was an English horticulturalist, artist, author, poet and garden designer.He was born in Cambridge and studied in the University Botanic Garden at Cambridge University...

 in 1951. It is particularly vigorous, with clusters of scented flower up to 45 centimetres (17.7 in) diameter, and tolerant of shade, a necessary attribute for a tree climber. The original plant of Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate' is said to be the largest rose in Britain, measuring 80 feet (24.4 m) x 90 feet (27.4 m) x 50 feet (15.2 m) high. The same official website claims that were it not cut back regularly, the rose would eventually cause the destruction of the large copper beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

tree into which it has climbed.