A rare hybrid between two very common wild roses. The first examples of this hybrid were discovered by Belfast botanist John Templeton in 1795 and named as Rosa hibernica (literally "the Irish rose"). Originally thought to be a new species of rose, it later became apparent that it was a hybrid. One of the shrubs found by Templeton survived into the 1950's on a roadside near Holywood in Co Down, and was removed from there into cultivation when the road was being widened about 1954. This individual plant now grows in Belfast Botanic Gardens.
Other examples have been found occasionally since Templeton's time.
All names: Rosa canina x pimpinellifolia (R. x hibernica) Templeton; Rosa x hibernica Templeton; Rosa canina x pimpinellifolia