Article (magazine)  (1 Jun 2015)  
 
In the genus Rosa, hybridity is often accompanied by polyploidy and it may have helped stabilize hybrids between distantly related species of the genus. Polyploidy may also have favoured the rate of diversification (R. sect. Caninae), an increase in the geographic range (R. acicularis, R. spinosissima) and the colonization of high-altitude habitats (R. praelucens) or of high latitudes (R. acicularis).

Article (newsletter)  (Jul 2012)  Page(s) 44-45.  
 
R. acicularis (Fig.1. b. slight, hardly noticeable scent)....
....the fragrances which the nine roses below give off were not so intense. They lacked highly fragrant components, and the amounts of the volatiles these roses emit were low: R. acicularis, R. nipponensis, R. fujisanensis, R. onoei var. hakonensis, R. onoei var. oligantha, R. paniculigera, R. luciae, R. luciae f. glandulifera and R. hirtula.

Article (website)  (2008)  
 
Rosa acicularis In Crane, M. F. 1990. Rosa acicularis. In: Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). 2008, July 6

Prickly rose plants are quite variable in morphological details including pubescence, glandularity, and fruit shape . Prickly rose is a deciduous shrub about 4 feet (1.2 m) in height with many fine roots in the top 8 inches (20 cm) of soil. Deep roots may extend to 55 inches (140 cm) . The main stems are usually covered with slender, straight bristles or prickles. The alternate leaves are pinnately compound with five to nine leaflets and conspicuous stipules. The pink or rose-colored flowers have numerous stamens and are borne singly on lateral branches. The globose, fleshy, red or orange-red hip has 10 to 30 achenes. Each achene is 0.15 to 0.2 inch (3.8-5 mm) long with stiff hairs along one side.

Information about subspecies (varieties) is summarized below:
Subspecies (variety) acicularis is octoploid (2n = 56). It has glandular pedicels and narrow sepals (less than 0.1 inch or 3 mm). Its leaves have five leaflets.
Subspecies sayi (variety bourgeauiana) is hexaploid (2n = 42). Its pedicels are glabrous and the sepals are wider than 0.1 inch (3 mm). There are five to nine leaflets in each leaf.

Prickly rose regenerates vegetatively by means of widespread rhizomes. A single clone with 8 to 11 above-ground stems linked by a horizontal rhizome can cover 11.95 to 23.92 square yards (10-20 sq m). Results of an Alaskan study found rhizomes between 8 and 12 inches (20-30 cm) deep. This was sufficient for the rhizomes to be in the mineral soil below deep organic horizons. Since rhizomes sprout after fire and other types of disturbance, prickly rose clones may live for hundreds of years.

Article (magazine)  (2007)  Page(s) 370, fig. 1.  
 
R. acicularis var. acicularis typical ploidy 6x

Website/Catalog  (2006)  Includes photo(s).
 
Oo-Takane-Bara (Large High Mountain Rose) R. acicularis Lindl.
Ros. Monogr.: 44, t.8 (1820)
Distribution: Hokkaido, Northern Honshu
This is one of the "circumboreal plants" distributed widely in almost all the areas of high latitude in the northern hemisphere. In Japan, it is found in Hokkaido and northern parts of Honshu. The colour of the flower ranges from pale pink to violet carmine, but it is not clear whether this difference in colour is to be attributed to individual variations or to environmental effects. The flower is normally 4 to 5 cm across but the author has seen a large one, ca. 8 cm across, by a small stream in NE-Hokkaido. On the Okhotsk Sea coast of NE-Hokkaido, this rose also grows in swamp lands close by the seashore, and in the Tohoku district of Honshu Island, the author saw it growing in some particular places cooled by gap wind from underground on debris slopes. The fruit, obovate in shape, is about 2 cm long.

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 118-119.  Includes photo(s).
 
Ō-Takane-Bara (Large High Mountain Rose) R. acicularis Lindl.
Same text as on website

Book  (2002)  
 
Prickly wild rose (R. acicularis) is an equally [as R. arkansana] bristly spreading species usually a foot taller on average that ranges clear across the northern third of North America and into eurasia. It has leaves with only 5 to 7 leaflets and flowers tending toward dark rose pink. the spines are usually so thick on the slower-growing stems as to nearly obscure them. Hips are gray-purple and 1/2 inch in diameter.

Article (magazine)  (2002)  Page(s) 354.  
 
Acicular Rose (Rosa acicularis Lindl.). This species grows in mountain gorges, wet shrub lands, stony slopes and forest borders. It is a xero-mesophytic shrub 2 m high witha rching branches, and tickly covered with thorns. Compound, bluish leaves with 5 to 7 ovate or elliptical leaflets are weakly pubescent on the upper sides and densely-pubescent on the lower sides. Reddish-pink, slightly aromatic flowers, 3 to 6 cm in diameter, are usually borne singly but sometimes in groups of two to three. Red fruits with thick flesh are edible, shapes are ovate, elliptical or obovate pyriform, mostly drooping, 2 to 3 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm wide. Vitamin C content is 4500 mg/100g, while seeds contain 8 to 10 percent oil, and leaves and roots are abundant in tannin substances.

Article (magazine)  (2002)  Page(s) 354.  
 
R. acicularis (Acicular rose). Distribution: The Altai, Tarbagatai, Dzhungarskei Alatau, Central Kazakhstan. Use: Food, medicinal, ornamental; easily cultured.

Article (magazine)  (2001)  Page(s) 393.  
 
R. acicularis Lindl. Ploidy 6x
Pollen fertility 97.0%
Selfed fruit set 40.0%
Selfed Seed Set 17.2%