With autumn fully here, gorgeous flowers at the park of the Debrecen Zoo are now gradually replaced by equally pretty fruits; rose hips, born by dog and rugosa roses, are already shaping up rather nicely.The dog and rugosa roses (Rosa canina and rugosa) are thorny deciduous shrubs belonging to the rose family. Native to Europe, Northwest Africa and East Asia, the former blooms form late spring to early autumn, while the latter, indigenous only in the Far East, showcases its five-petalled flowers, ranging from white to dark pink, all summer long. Flowering is followed by the appearance of red accessory fruits called rosehips with a wide range of culinary and medicinal uses. Best picked slightly soft right after the first frost, rosehips have a pleasant taste and are very rich in vitamin C, thus used in jams, syrups, sauces and soups. As a tea, they can help combat constipation, colds, or a flu.
