[3] Dense shrub or thicket-forming perennial, found in chaparral plant communities.

In fact, it is exceptionally drought tolerant, particularly if given a thick layer of organic mulch; under drought stress the plant defoliates, exposing a small thicket of woody, and extremely spiny stems.

Leaves are round, widest near the middle, tip shape to obtuse, with toothed margins about halfway to the midvein, glandless.

[3] Flowers: Inflorescences are generally one-flowered, pedicels are hairy and glandless, and measure to about 2-10mm in length.

[6] The name Rosa minutifolia was previously disputed, as some believed it to be in its own genus, Hesperhodos.