Rose is the great heart flower: soft, fragrant, ancient, the plant we have loved into a symbol of love itself. This is a complete profile of rose, the plant and the magic both: what it is and where it comes from, how it looks, smells and tastes, the compounds inside it, the herbal actions it is known for, its old place in astrology, the rituals it belongs to, and how to use it kindly and safely.
Rose: at a glance
| Botanical name | Rosa (many species, e.g. Rosa damascena, Rosa canina) |
|---|---|
| Family | Rosaceae, the rose family |
| Also known as | Rose, damask rose, dog rose (the hip) |
| Parts used | Petals and hips (the fruit) |
| Key actions | Petal a cooling astringent nervine and heart-soother, hip a vitamin-C-rich nutritive |
| Energetics | Cooling and moistening |
| Taste | Petal sweet and floral with a faint bitterness, hip tart |
| Planet and element | Venus, Water |
| Traditional themes | Love, the heart, beauty, self-love, grief, opening and softening |
What rose is
Rose is a woody, often thorny shrub or climber of the great rose family, with hundreds of wild species and countless cultivated varieties grown over thousands of years. The genus name, Rosa, covers everything from the tumbling wild dog rose of the hedgerows to the heavily scented damask roses distilled for their oil. After flowering, roses set fruit called hips, the swollen, usually red seed cases that ripen in autumn and carry much of the plant's food value. In herbalism it is chiefly the petals and these hips that are used.
Appearance
Roses form arching, prickly stems clothed in toothed, usually divided leaves of fresh mid-green. The flowers range from the simple five-petalled saucers of the wild species to the many-petalled, cupped blooms of the old garden roses, in every shade from white through pink and apricot to deep crimson. As the petals fall, smooth, rounded or flask-shaped hips swell and colour, glowing red or orange against the bare autumn stems.
Fragrance and taste
The scent of rose is one of the most beloved in the world: sweet, deep, honeyed and softly spiced, at once comforting and a little heady. Not every rose is fragrant, but the old damask and cabbage roses are famous for it. The petals taste as they smell, sweetly floral with a gentle, faintly bitter, astringent edge, while the ripe hips are pleasantly tart and fruity. It is this tender sweetness that makes rose as fitting on the altar as it is in a cup or a jar of jam.
Constituents
Rose's soft power comes from a blend of aromatic and astringent compounds. The famous scent is carried by volatile oils, chiefly citronellol, geraniol and phenylethanol, the molecules captured in rose water and precious rose oil. Alongside these sit tannins, which give the petals their gentle astringency and toning quality, and a range of flavonoids. The hips are notable for their high vitamin C, along with carotenoids and fruit acids. Together these give rose its comforting scent, its softly toning action, and its reputation as a herb of the heart.
Herbal actions
Herbalists value the rose petal as a cooling, gently astringent nervine, a herb that tones and soothes at once and is traditionally turned to for a sore or grieving heart. You can read more about what these terms mean in our guide to herbal actions. The petals are mildly astringent and cooling, comforting to inflamed or tender tissues, while the hips are a nourishing, vitamin-C-rich tonic. Together they make rose both a herb of feeling and a gentle everyday nutritive.
Traditional and modern uses
Rose is the flower of love in nearly every culture that grows it. Its petals have scented baths, sweets, syrups and holy waters for millennia, been strewn at weddings and funerals alike, and been distilled into rose water and rose oil treasured for beauty and devotion. Traditionally the petals were used to cool and tone, to comfort grief and heartache, and to soften and beautify the skin, while the hips were gathered as a tart, nourishing food and a source of vitamin C.
Modern interest is gentler and more honest. Rose hips are a genuine source of vitamin C and antioxidants, and the scent of rose is truly comforting and mood-soothing for many. Much of rose's power, though, is a herb of feeling rather than of dramatic action, so hold the heart-healing lore as tradition and the nourishment of the hips as real, enjoy rose for the tenderness it brings, and read our honest note below.
Rose in astrology and correspondences
In traditional herbal astrology rose belongs, above all, to Venus. The seventeenth-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, whose Complete Herbal paired every plant with a planet, drew fine distinctions between the roses, linking red roses more to Jupiter, damask roses to Venus and white roses to the Moon. Yet the rose as a whole is the quintessential Venus flower, the very emblem of love, beauty and the open heart. Its element is Water, which suits its cooling, emotional, tender nature. This is a symbolic language, a way of grouping plants by feeling, not proven fact, but no plant wears its Venusian character more plainly than the rose, herb of love, self-love, grief and the softening of the heart.
Rituals rose is good for
Few flowers are as central to matters of the heart as rose, and it belongs in any working touched by love or feeling.
- Love and attraction. The classic flower of love: scatter petals, dress a working with them, or turn to our guide to herbs for love.
- Self-love and heart-opening. Add rose to a bath or a quiet ritual for tending your own heart, letting its softness meet you gently.
- Grief and comfort. Long carried in times of loss, rose is a tender companion for grief and the slow work of healing.
- Beauty and confidence. Its Venusian softness suits any working for beauty, grace and self-worth.
- Pairing with crystals. Rose sits beautifully with rose quartz and other heart stones; see our crystals for love.
- Moon water and lunar work. Float a few petals in moon water for a soft, loving charge under the Moon.
How to use rose
- As a tea. Steep dried petals, or petals and hips together, for a gently fragrant, softly toning cup.
- As rose water. Use food-grade rose water as a cooling facial splash, in cooking, or sprinkled in ritual.
- As a tincture or infused oil. See our guides to herbal preparations and to making a tincture; a rose-infused oil is a lovely skin and heart anointing oil.
- In the bath. Add petals to bathwater for a soft, beautifying, heart-tending soak.
- In the kitchen. Rose hips make a tart, vitamin-rich syrup or jam, and petals scent sweets and jellies.
Is rose safe?
Rose petals and hips are very safe and gentle, with few cautions. The one rule that matters is to use only unsprayed, food-grade roses, never florist blooms, which are often heavily treated with chemicals not meant to be eaten. When making rosehip tea or syrup, strain out the fine internal hairs of the hips well, as these can irritate the mouth and throat. As always, identify your plant with certainty, and treat herbalism as a companion to medical care, not a substitute.
Does rose really work?
Honestly, rose is chiefly a herb of feeling, and it helps to say so plainly. Rose hips are a genuine source of vitamin C, and the scent of rose is truly soothing to the spirits, but the deep heart-healing so many of us feel is more symbol than measured effect, and none the poorer for it. What is certain is the softening, comforted feeling that comes from rose petals in a bath, a cup of rose tea, or simply breathing in that beloved scent, part chemistry, part ritual, part being gentle with yourself. I keep dried rose petals to hand for the hardest days, as much for what they represent as anything the books can prove.
Keep exploring
Browse the full herbal A to Z, learn the herbal actions, and see our wider herbalism library. Rose pairs beautifully with other heart herbs and stones in our guides to herbs for love and crystals for love.
Frequently asked questions
Rose petals are a cooling, gently astringent nervine traditionally turned to for a sore or grieving heart, while rose hips are a nutritive rich in vitamin C. Rose is above all a herb of feeling, loved for love, self-love, beauty and comfort in ritual.
Rose is the great flower of love, the heart and beauty, standing for self-love, tenderness and the opening and softening of the heart. It has been strewn at weddings and funerals alike and carried in both joy and grief.
In traditional herbal astrology rose belongs to Venus and the element of Water. Nicholas Culpeper drew fine distinctions, linking red roses more to Jupiter, damask to Venus and white to the Moon, but the rose as a whole is the quintessential Venus flower.
Rose petals and hips are very safe and gentle. Use only unsprayed, food-grade roses, never florist blooms, which are often heavily treated. When making rosehip tea or syrup, strain out the fine internal hairs of the hips, which can irritate the throat.
Scatter petals or dress a working for love, add rose to a bath for self-love and heart-opening, carry it for comfort in grief, float petals in moon water, or pair it with rose quartz and other heart stones.
Yes. Rose hips are a genuine, well-known source of vitamin C along with carotenoids and antioxidants, which is why they have long been gathered as a tart, nourishing food and made into syrup, especially in autumn.
Steep dried petals, or petals and hips, as a fragrant tea, use food-grade rose water as a facial splash or in cooking, make a rose-infused oil for the skin, add petals to the bath, or turn rose hips into a vitamin-rich syrup or jam.
