Roses that are Classified as Species Roses
This is a group of species and near-species roses. What they have most in common is that they have occurred without much deliberate help from man. That will generally mean that the flowers are simple and natural looking and that the roses grow on long, arching, fairly well branched canes that look good at the edge of a woodland. And in a number of cases the roses will tolerate a bit more shade than will hybrid teas or china roses. Many of these, especailly the larger ones, are not the roses one sets down along a path in a formal garden, but they can be of great use in more naturalistic settings.
The banksian roses will completely cover a large wall with bloom once a year - a specatacle that is unlike any other. R. wichurana will cover the ground with shiny leaves. R. glauca produces small pink roses that are of almost no interest, but the orange hips look outstanding against the foliage and give the plant strong interest through much of the fall. Several British garden writers complain that Canary Bird is overused, and perhaps it is in that country, but it probably would be the best choice for some garden settings stateside. A lot of rose lovers will turn up their noses at species roses. And that is okay because in some ironic sense they are less like what we think a rose is than any other sort of rose. Sometimes that is precisely the reason one might use one in the garden.