A large, rambling shrub with sprays of abundant white flowers borne on arching branches.  The leaves have seven to nine leaflets. The flowers are almost white, smaller than the common dog-rose and sweetly scented. The styles are in a central column.

Occurs as a naturalised garden escape in woodland, hedges, copses, scrub and on railway embankments and waste ground.

Flowers in June.

Perennial.

Occasional but widespread in Britain.

Rarely recorded in the wild in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.