According to a note in the International Plant Names Index, Rosa uncinella is a synonym of R. canina.

The 1823 reference in Rosacearum monographia describes R. uncinella as native to the Caucasus. It was later identified in northern England in 1863.

In a lengthy article in French published in Bulletin de la Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique, Volume 17 (1878), Crépin published a proposed revision of the names of roses of Besser and von Bieberstein, including R. uncinella. Crépin listed it as a synonym of Rosa canina (p. 275) based on a review of Marschall von Bieberstein's herbarium. To read the article in French, see "Primitiae Monographiae Rosarum - Matériaux Pour Servir À L'Histoire Des Roses, XIII - Révision des Roses de Besser et de Marschall von Bieberstein," at p. 221 ff.