Dog, used as an adjective, as in dog’s mercury or dog Latin, can be disparaging: it means something is not quite the real thing. But dog rose is a direct translation of the Latin, Rosa Canina, so named in classical times because the root of the dog rose was believed to be a cure for the bite of a mad dog.
Rosa canina is also called dogberry, witches’ briar, dog briar, and briar-rose. Shakespeare called it eglantine. The reserve’s hedges are full of it, buzzing with pollinators of all kinds.
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 