rose family: Meaning and Definition of

rose' fam"ily

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. the plant family Rosaceae, characterized by trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants having compound or simple leaves with stipules, flowers typically with five sepals and five petals, and fruit in a variety of forms, many of which are fleshy and edible, and including the almond, apple, apricot, blackberry, cherry, cinquefoil, hawthorn, peach, pear, plum, raspberry, rose, spirea, and strawberry.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.