Rosa gallica, French rose, or rose of Provins, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, native to southern and central Europe eastwards to Turkey and the Caucasus. It was one of the first species of rose to be cultivated in central Europe.
Rosa gallica is a deciduous shrub forming large patches. The slender, straight prickles are various in size and frequency in this species. The leaves are pinnately-compound, with three to seven bluish-green leaflets. The flowers are clustered one to four together, on glandular pedicels. Each flower has five or more petals, sometimes producing double corollas. The flowers are fragrant and deep pink. The hips are globose to ovoid, 10–13 mm diameter, orange to brownish. It was cultivated by the Greek and Romans and commonly used in mediaeval gardens. In the 19th century it was the most important species of rose to be cultivated, and most modern European rose cultivars have at least a small contribution from R. gallica in their ancestry.
