Many popular garden plants - including many types of stone fruit and pome fruit - are closely related to the "queen of flowers", the rose. They all belong to the large group of rose plants, which can be clearly seen from the structure of the flowers.
The apricot also belongs to the rose family
There are around 3000 different species worldwide
Rose plants are native to the world, with a focus on the northern hemisphere. Most of the estimated 3000 species, many of which are immensely important for both ornamental and kitchen gardens, originally come from Asia, Europe or North America. In particular, stone fruit and pome fruit such as cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, apples and pears, but also some ornamental plants (above all, of course, the eponymous rose) have spread all over the world through human intervention over the millennia. Rose plants look anything but uniform, they can be herbaceous plants, shrubs or even trees. They are only similar in the structure of their flowers, and in some plants the base of the flower is used to form the fruit (e.g. in almost all types of fruit).
List of the most well-known types and varieties
In the table we have put together an overview of the four subfamilies with the associated tribes, genera and species. Since the rose family is so extensive, we limit ourselves to a selection of the species relevant to gardening.
| subfamily | tribe | genus | Types (selection) | growth forms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prunoideae | Amygdaleae (stone fruit family) | prunus | Apricot, cherry, plum, cherry laurel, almond, peach | trees or shrubs |
| Spiraeoideae | Sorbarieae | Feather spars (Sorbaria) | Siberian feather spar (Sorbaria sorbifolia) | trees or shrubs |
| Spiraeeae | Goat's Beard (Aruncus), Spiraea (Spiraea) | Germander Spiraeus | trees or shrubs | |
| Rosoideae | - | Meadowsweet (Filipendula) | Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) | mostly herbaceous plants or shrubs |
| - | roses (pink) | Potato Rose (Rosa rugosa) | shrubs | |
| Agrimoniinae | Agrimony (Agrimonia L.) | Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) | mostly herbaceous plants or shrubs | |
| Sanguisorbinae | Burnet (Sanguisorba) | Small burnet (Sanguisorba minor), Large burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) | mostly herbaceous plants or shrubs | |
| Potentillea | Strawberries (Fragaria), Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla) | Strawberries (Fragaria), Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla) | mostly herbaceous plants | |
| Maloideae (apple fruit) | Pome fruit plants (Pyrinae) | Pyreae | Rock pears (Amelanchier), chokeberries (Aronia), hawthorns (Crataegus), quince (Cydonia), loquat (Eriobotrya), apples (Malus), pears (Pyrus) | shrubs or trees |
tips
The raspberry (Rubus idaeus) and other types of berries such as the cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) or the blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) also belong to the large rose family!