YahGarden

Herb library · Herb · Rosa canina and other wild roses

Rose hips

The red fruit left after a wild rose flowers, eaten as jam, tea and powder and very rich in vitamin C. Three small trials of one rose hip powder, all supported by its maker, found less joint pain in osteoarthritis; independent, larger trials are still needed.

Traditional use

Wild rose hips have been eaten for centuries: European herbals made them into a sweet conserve, and USDA records wild rose hips as a food of the Northern Plains Indians. Today they are sold as tea, powder and capsules, mostly for joint pain and as a source of vitamin C. Melvin Gilmore recorded (1919) that the Omaha ate wild rose hips to get through times of food scarcity and steeped them as a wash for sore eyes, and that the Pawnee used charred stem galls as a dressing for burns.

What studies show

  • Limited

    Osteoarthritis pain: a 2008 meta-analysis of three randomized trials (287 people, about 3 months each), all supported by the manufacturer of one rose hip powder, found less pain than with placebo. The authors call the data sparse and say effectiveness and safety need independent replication in larger, longer trials.

  • Insufficient

    Colds, immunity and other uses: no trials in people were found in the sources we read. Rose hips are a rich food source of vitamin C (USDA lists 426 mg per 100 g of wild hips).

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteSafety has been studied only in the short osteoarthritis trials; the 2008 review says safety still needs evaluation in larger, longer trials.
  • PregnancyThe sources we read give no information on concentrated rose hip products in pregnancy or breastfeeding. Ask your clinician first.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“A wash for inflammation of the eyes was made by steeping the fruits, according to information from the Omaha.”
Melvin Randolph Gilmore, Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region (1919), p. 85. See the page of Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, p. 85 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, p. 85
“It is inodorous, but possesses a rather pleasant, sweetish, acidulous taste, which is increased by the action of frost.”
Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd, King's American Dispensatory (1905), vol. 2, p. 1677. See the page of King's American Dispensatory, vol. 2, p. 1677 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from King's American Dispensatory, vol. 2, p. 1677
“The fruit of the wild briar, which are called Hips, being thoroughly ripe, and made into a conserve with sugar, besides the pleasantness of the taste, doth gently bind the belly, and stay defluctions from the head upon the stomach, drying up the moisture thereof, and helps digestion.”
Nicholas Culpeper, Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 154. See the page of Culpeper's Complete Herbal, p. 154 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from Culpeper's Complete Herbal, p. 154

Sources

  1. Does the hip powder of Rosa canina (rosehip) reduce pain in osteoarthritis patients? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (2008) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. A powder made from seeds and shells of a rose-hip subspecies (Rosa canina) reduces symptoms of knee and hip osteoarthritis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial (2005) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. Rose Hips, wild (Northern Plains Indians) - FoodData Central (opens in a new tab) · USDA · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.