This low, thicket-forming shrub has erect, thorny branches and solitary pink to reddish-purple flowers. Note the stout, straight, yellowish-white, 1/2-inch long prickles on the stems, the 3–5 wedge-shaped leaflets, and the densely-prickly, red hips.

FLOWER: May–August. Single flowers 1 1/2–2-inches wide (4–5 cm) on branch tips have 5 showy pink to reddish-purple petals, 5 prickly sepals, and numerous yellow stamens. Dull red hips are egg-shaped, 1/2–5/8-inch long and wide (13–16 mm), and densely covered with prickles.

LEAVES: Alternate. Leaf petioles (stem) has 2 leaf-like stipules at the base. Leaf blade has 3–5 wedge-shaped leaflets each 5/16–3/4-inch long (8–18 mm); margins with rounded teeth, surfaces hairy or not.

HABITAT: Rocky, gravelly, sandy soils, slopes, canyons, foothills; desert scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,700–8,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 5 native species of red roses in NM. The widespread Woods Rose, R. woodsii, has 5–7 leaflets, and bright-red hips without prickles.

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero,  Sierra, Socorro.