Salt Spray Roses on Sconset Beach,
Siasconset, Nantucket Island
The Salt Spray Rose (Rosa Rugosa) lives true to its name, growing wild near the beaches of Nantucket Island and outer Cape Cod. The group in this photograph made on Sconset Beach in Siasconset was actually expanding out onto the beach sand at the high tide line. This photo was made in 1991, just months before "The Perfect Storm" hit, destroying these rose bushes as it severely transformed the beach.
Salt Spray Roses are very fragrant and eye-catching when in bloom. It is said that this rose traces its origins to China. Some think that the species took hold on the rough beaches of the eastern seaboard as a shipwreck survivor, while others believe it to be a well-naturalized escapee of earlier cultivation in the region.
It is highly regarded for making herbal rose tea, and for making rose-hip jelly from the bright red hips (fruits) which ripen in the fall of the year.
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