Interview with Roger Maskew & Gareth Knass, co-authors of BSBI Handbook #26: Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland

There’s a new addition to the series of BSBI Handbooks: we are delighted to announce that Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland will be published this autumn. BSBI members will be able to benefit from an exclusive introductory offer of £16 (excl. P&P) which will save them £9 compared the RRP of £25.

I spoke to Roger Maskew (RM) and Gareth Knass (GK), the authors of the new Handbook, to find out about their botanical back-stories and how they became interested in roses.

LM: Before we start talking about the new Handbook, could you both tell us a bit more about yourselves please? How did you get started as botanists, and when did you join the BSBI?  

RM: My main interest as a teenager in the late 1950s was bird-watching, and since 1958 I have submitted many field records annually to the West Midland Bird Club. A serious interest in botany commenced in the late 1960s, and I eventually joined the BSBI in 1983. After many years of recording I published The Flora of Worcestershire in 2014. My interest in roses started in the 1970s and by the mid-1980s I had started to send specimens away for determination firstly to Gordon Graham and then to Tony Primavesi who helped me enormously to begin to get to grips with the genus. I became a BSBI rose referee in 1995. I wrote the Rosa account in the Hybrid Flora of the British Isles in 2015 before commencing work on a new handbook with GDK in 2020.

GK: Thanks to encouragement from my parents, I have always had an interest in many aspects of natural history, starting with birds, which has been a lifelong passion, and moving onto botany in an ad hoc way my late teens. I occasionally joined local Ashmolean and Cotswold rare plant group outings in Oxfordshire when living there between 1999-2003, then regularly in Hampshire (2001-onwards) run by the Hampshire Flora Group, whose leaders and regular field outing participants really helped develop my general botanical skills. I think I joined the BSBI about 15 years ago. 

LM: So, what drew you both to roses as a genus?

RM: I noticed the beauty of the shrubs when flowering and began to want to know more about them.

GK: I would often puzzle over the identification of roses, and being lucky to be close to good populations of the southern species Rosa micrantha and Rosa stylosa, I learned how to separate these interesting species. I spent a long time trying to find ‘Rosa obtusifolia’, or Rosa tomentella as it is now known, and Downy-roses, both of which are generally quite scarce in many parts of the south east. I only really started to find and identify these less common species just before I met Roger (RM) in 2016, when he was invited to record roses in the New Forest by BSBI Vice-County Recorder Martin Rand, and Martin also invited a small number of local botanists including myself. Following this meeting, Roger then cemented my interest in Rosa, provided mentoring to grow my knowledge of the taxa, inviting me on further recording trips, and introducing me to finer identification pointers and the issues of hybrid determination.

LM: What made you decide to take the leap from liking and recording members of this genus to taking on the mantle of being a Handbook author? Did you put yourselves forward or were you encouraged by fellow botanists who saw a need for this Handbook?

RM: We decided there was a need for a new handbook, as the previous BSBI Handbook (Graham & Primavesi, 1993) was out of print, and the taxonomy and nomenclature of roses had changed since it was first published. 

GK: Roger approached me after a recording trip to Wiltshire in 2019 about the potential for collaborating on a new handbook – we agreed that there was certainly a need for one.

LM: There certainly was; this new Handbook is 285 pages long, and covers 117 taxa, 15 of which are native, 20 are aliens and 82 are hybrids. When did you start working on it?

RM: At the beginning of 2020.

GK: It has taken between 2020 and 2024 to get the draft manuscript and design together, and the last year has been a series of edits and reviews. When we first started the process there was the decision to be made as to which software to use. We decided that Adobe Indesign would give us the flexibility needed, but having never used this software before, there was a fairly steep learning curve to figure out how it works and how to put the book together.

LM: Could you give us some examples please of the species you cover and what we can expect to find out from the new Handbook about its identification, distribution, ecology and current conservation status?

RM: Except for conservation status, where known all the above are covered in detail, either in the introductory chapters, or in the species accounts.

GK: It is hoped that the details and layout of the new handbook will aid users in finding the key features of all native species, as well as most hybrids, and some alien species too. Rose identification requires consideration of a suite of features, and they should all be checked for identification purposes, especially when hybridisation is such a key aspect of their ecology.

LM: Thank you both for providing us with sample pages showing a selection of the species covered, they are all displayed as illustrations on this blogpost.

You must have visited a lot of locations across Britain and Ireland in the course of your research. Are there any that particularly stand out in your memory?

RM: Visits to rose-rich sites in Sutherland, the Scottish Highlands, coastal dunes in East Lothian, and wooded areas in south and west Worcestershire with an abundance of southern specialities, and along the Welsh borders, where the highlight was the discovery of a second British site for Rosa villosa.

GK: As with Roger, some of my favourite locations have been to the more remote areas of the UK; from visiting sites for the personally less often encountered northern species, in Scotland, Wales and northern England, to seeing the unusual population of Rosa villosa in its fairly remote setting in Shropshire. A trip to Ireland was also very interesting and informative, and included seeing the hybrid Rosa spinosissima × rugosa found by Paul and Ian Green a number of years ago, and it is still persisting at its original locality (or was in 2022).

LM: Did you get a lot of feedback from BSBI Vice-County Recorders and many of our “ordinary members” who go out plant recording? Is there anyone in particular whose help you would like to acknowledge?

RM: Help and support were given when visiting some vice-counties, in particular Geoffrey Kitchener in Kent (2015), Martin Rand in Hampshire (2016) and Ken Adams in Essex (2021), and especially the help given by Chris Preston during the preparation of the handbook for reading the complete manuscript, pointing out many typos etc. and for his many helpful suggestions regarding changes and modifications to the text.

GK: In addition to RM’s reply, a trip to Ireland in 2022 was greatly assisted by Declan Doogue, who showed me around a number of interesting rose sites. David Morris in Oxfordshire provided an interesting day at The Warburg BBOWT reserve, in 2023, where we recorded a good number of taxa.  Alien rose material was enhanced by assistance from the National Trust with access to their Mottisfont Rose Garden, and by a private rose nursery run by Joan Taylor in Hampshire.  And for myself, a number of local botanists and friends in the Hampshire Flora Group, particularly under the leadership of the BSBI’s Martin Rand and Tony Mundell over the years. Finally, although not BSBI members, I should really also thank my fiancée Nicola, and step daughter Hannah, for their patience in waiting around whilst I photographed many roses on family outings, and spending far too much spare time on the computer over the last few years!

LM: How about herbaria – did you visit many herbaria to look at specimens? Are herbarium specimens particularly useful when it comes to rose identification?

RM: Herbarium specimens are very important particularly historical ones when assessing the accuracy of old records. Most of the important herbaria were examined over a long period by Tony Primavesi and RM. The collection and pressing of specimens is covered in the introductory chapters of the handbook.

GK: The herbarium work was undertaken by RM.

LM: Now to the illustrations: they are always an important part of any BSBI Handbook – so, what can we expect here – photographs, such as the ones which illustrate this blogpost? Are there also line drawings? Diagrams? Distribution maps?

RM: All the illustrations are photographs, there are no line drawings. Most of the species accounts include a distribution map.

GK: Photography has been used extensively, but it has involved a process of carefully ‘cutting out’ images of samples photographed on pale backgrounds in Photoshop to produce a more standard looking field guide species plate, highlighting the key features of each species. Traditional style photos of bushes in situ have also been used for the main native species. The majority of photographs are from either myself or Roger, but there are a small number of additional photos used by other photographers in the book; they have been acknowledged within, and we are grateful for the use of their material.

LM: All BSBI Handbook authors benefit from editorial support to help them through the process towards publication. Who was your editor, was it Liz Kungu?

RM: Yes, Liz Kungu, with help from David Pearman and Chris Preston.

GK: We also had a chapter review from Arthur Chater, and valuable pointers and advice on use of the software by John Norton. We are both grateful for all the editorial support.

LM: Finally, once people have a copy of this Handbook they will be keen to get out and use it in the field on some actual roses! Are there any workshops in the pipeline, where botanists can learn more before they go on (next year) to test the Handbook in the field?

RM: Scottish workshop in East Lothian in September just completed. No further workshops planned at the moment.

GK: As mentioned by RM, we have undertaken a workshop with around 20 of the Scottish BSBI Vice-County Recorders, organised by BSBI Scotland Officer Matt Harding. It was a good day, at an interesting rose site in the East Lothian sand dunes, with a lot of rose identification ground covered.

LM: Thank you both for talking to us about the new Handbook, the 26th in BSBI’s series of Handbooks for difficult plant groups. Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland has been a long time coming but it looks as though it will be well worth the wait – many thanks to you and to your editors and contributors for all your hard work, and thank you both for talking to me today.

Now, readers will want to know how to get hold of a copy of the new BSBI Handbook.

If you are a BSBI member, there are details here and in the Autumn issue of BSBI News telling you how you can benefit from our exclusive offer and save £9 compared to the RRP of £25. You can order your copy by post or else online, by clicking here to land on the members-only area of the BSBI website: you'll need to have your password to hand – email us if you’ve forgotten it – and don’t forget to include your membership number.

If you are not a BSBI member, you have two options: from 24th November, you will be able to buy the book from Summerfield Books and other natural history book-sellers, but why not join BSBI right now and start enjoying all the benefits of membership, including this special offer? Take a look at our Join Us page which lists all the benefits of BSBI membership and there's a secure payment option, making it very quick and easy for you to become a BSBI member and start getting involved.  

Working towards building a more diverse and inclusive community of BSBI botanists

Joni Cook at Dimminsdale LNR,
Leicestershire
Image courtesy of J. Cook

BSBI’s Strategy 2024-27 includes the goal of inspiring, building and supporting a diverse community of botanists to sustain and develop the skill base. To reach that goal, we knew that we had to find even more ways of engaging a broader community by identifying – and then working to reduce - any barriers to participation.

This is why BSBI set up an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group in 2024 to brainstorm ideas that would help us make botany more accessible for everyone, and then come up with a statement and an action plan that we could take forwards. Joni Cook, Secretary of our Events & Communications Committee and a key member of the EDI Working Group, has offered an update on progress so far.

Over to Joni:

“It was fantastic to see the launch of the BSBI Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Statement in March 2025 - what really excites me about this development, and bolsters my hope in these troubled times, can be emphasised by Maya Angelou’s powerful words “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength”. With nature in the UK in crisis - known ranges of 53% of native plants have declined since the 1950s - driven by the rising impacts of climate breakdown amongst other drivers and society grappling with the consequences of these interconnected challenges including sharply rising inequality amongst a dramatically shifting political climate exacerbated by a cost-of-living crisis and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic which are negatively impacting marginalised groups the most, there has never been greater urgency to drive progress towards making botany accessible for everyone.

"The BSBI EDI Statement sets out the Society’s commitment to actively championing EDI across all activities - striving to make botany accessible to everyone, continuously learning, adapting, and being accountable for progress. By working collaboratively to uphold this statement through actively embedding EDI in everything that we do and accelerate a just and equitable transition towards making botany accessible for everyone, we will not only bolster the BSBI’s resilience and success, but also build a more inclusive, diverse botanical community which empowers underrepresented groups, elevates marginalised voices and drives collective action for the UK’s wild plants.

"Building appreciation for plants, highlighted as a key action in the results of the BSBI Plant Atlas, is a critical part of the solution to accelerate this transition and drive progress in conserving, restoring and enriching the UK’s flora. Reducing ‘plant awareness disparity’ (PAD), a difficulty in recognising and appreciating wild plants, will help people to reconnect with nature which nurtures nature guardianship and is a particularly pressing issue in the UK – where adults are amongst the least connected to nature worldwide, ranking 59th out of 65 national groups surveyed.

Recording the urban flora during 
New Year Plant Hunt 2024
Image: L. Marsh

"Results also highlighted the inequalities in connectedness to nature across different social groups. For example, people with less financial security, lower level of education, living in an urban location or who are not of a racial majority in a particular country experienced a lesser connection with nature. These findings highlight the importance of championing an equitable approach to reducing barriers to botany access for those who at present are the most disconnected from nature. With plant-based citizen science initiatives shown to have high potential to boost interest in and engagement with wild plants, the BSBI’s New Year Plant Hunt, with its wide geographical reach and continual success - the 2025 Plant Hunt engaged over 3000 participants across Britain and Ireland including via numerous group hunts in urban locations, is just one example of the BSBI’s diverse range of initiatives which offers immense opportunity for widening participation and acting as a gateway for empowering underrepresented groups to set out on personal botanical journeys.

"In light of the immense disparity in access to nature in the UK, accelerating progress towards making botany accessible for everyone will contribute towards improving the health and well-being of those who are most in need. Nearly one in five people struggle to access green space in the UK, for example ethnically diverse communities, people living on low incomes and people living in northern regions are more likely to living in places without access to green space, and more likely to suffer poorer health outcomes. The UK is in the midst of a mental health crisis – in 2024, more than 1 in 7 UK adults say their mental health is currently either bad, or the worst it’s ever been, which has intensified since the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, inequalities in mental health are prevalent – the greatest increase in poor mental health has been seen in people of younger ages (16-34 years). Spending time with plants can, it has been demonstrated, boost mental health and well-being – looking at a flower for just six seconds has been shown to lower blood pressure and stress levels, and indeed spending time in nature, even just 15 minutes, can reduce stress, and improve cardiovascular health and mood.

Joni recording the urban flora
with the Leicester Botany Group
Image: L. Marsh

"There is tremendous potential to reduce these inequalities in access to nature and associated health impacts through actively engaging underrepresented groups with plants through BSBI initiatives and activities. The network of BSBI local groups in Britain and Ireland, predominantly based in cities and major towns, offers immense opportunity to expand engagement with urban communities through group botany events which are free of charge and held within easy reach by public transport or active travel. There is also opportunity to expand on the BSBI’s recent increased engagement with people of younger ages. Sarah Woods, BSBI Fundraising & Engagement Manager, noted how wonderful it was to have so many more younger botanists participating in the BSBI British & Irish Botanical Conference 2024 compared with previous years. Engagement is also being boosted through diversification of the BSBI’s social media presence, where BSBI Events & Communications Committee member Lindsay-Anne Heald is doing superb work in building a strong presence on TikTok, helping botany to reach younger audiences and to ensure continuity of botanical expertise across generations. With the Department of Education recently announcing plans for the introduction of a GCSE in Natural History, there is future potential to collaborate with participating institutions to introduce botany to young people. One key initiative of the BSBI’s EDI Working Group, which is being implemented in 2025, is a greater emphasis on collecting feedback from event participants. This includes an option for attendees to share their EDI data, which will enable BSBI to establish a baseline upon which evidence-based, measurable progress and ongoing monitoring of EDI goals can be made.      

"At a fundamental level, access to botany and as a result, increased botanical literacy, is empowering, opening up opportunities such as employment, further education and volunteering. For example, progression to Level 4 (‘Good ID skills’) on the BSBI Botanical Skills ladder enables the undertaking of National Vegetation Classification (NVC) surveys as part of consultancy work, teaching of vocational courses, or becoming an Identiplant tutor. Empowerment of underrepresented groups in botany is particularly important considering the urgent broader needs for addressing stark inequalities in post-compulsory STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, particularly in terms of socio-economic background, gender and ethnicity, and in the environmental sector which is the second least diverse of all sectors in the UK, for example with just 4.81% identifying as Black, Asian or from other minority ethnic groups, compared to 12.64% across all UK sectors. There is huge potential to build on taking a targeted, equitable and inclusive approach to opening up opportunities for underrepresented groups through BSBI activities. A recent example is the provision of Welsh translations for two BSBI publications, thanks to the Welsh Government's RhydweighartNatur Programme, provided by the Heritage Fund, which is boosting opportunities for Welsh communities, particularly those situated in rural areas, to engage with botany. It is not only people who will benefit from making botany accessible for everyone, but the BSBI too – organisations that take a bold approach to embracing EDI are more likely to be successful and resilient – for example, making use of the passion, talents, skills sets and perspectives that diverse communities provide can boost creativity, enhance innovation and reduce risk.

Joni enjoying the canalside flora at
Aylestone Meadows Nature Reserve, Leicester
Image: L. Marsh

"I would like to propose that advancing progress towards EDI goals should not be siloed in the BSBI community or even in botany as a scientific discipline, but to consider instead approaching our EDI journey as part of broader transitions within the environmental sector and indeed as part of a collective drive towards forging an inclusive and just society. In this respect, the importance of making and maintaining strong collaborations with a diverse range of organisations and actors, and the resultant cooperative exchange of knowledge, skills and experiences, cannot be over emphasised. For example, for the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme (where I work as part of the UK-based core team), the ‘leave no-one behind’ agenda is of central importance to programme activities and aim of accelerating access to clean, electric cooking, and transdisciplinary and global collaborations with a wide range of partners, such as communities, NGOs, governments, private sector, academia and research institutes, and policy representatives across 16 countries of interest are key to driving action on the ground towards achieving this. It is wonderful therefore to see a collaborative approach in the environmental sector being championed through the recent launch of a joint statement ‘Nature for all: diversity makes us stronger’ by the UK Terrestrial Evidence Partnership of Partnerships (UKTEPoP) initiative, of which the BSBI is one of the 10 partners, pledging commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion in UK species monitoring schemes. The UKTEPoP initiative is just one example of a variety of collaborations in which BSBI is engaging in order to drive EDI progress in the environmental sector, other examples include as a signatory of The RACE Report and (from 2025) contributing data to monitor racial diversity within the sector as well as monitoring the BSBI’s progress, and working with partners to engage with diverse communities in botany projects, and learning from this work, for example the Eco-Museum of Scottish Mining Landscapes Project.

"By working together to champion equity, diversity and inclusion by embedding in all our activities – identifying and breaking down barriers to participation, empowering people from all backgrounds with botanical skills and knowledge, amplifying and celebrating underrepresented voices, building an inclusive and vibrant botanical community and accelerating progress towards the goal of access to botany for everyone – we will deliver multiple cascading benefits for the UK’s threatened plants, the BSBI, all of us – the BSBI community, and indeed contribute to progress towards achieving a kind, compassionate, socially just and nature-centric wider society”.

BSBI membership: save money with our autumn special offer

For the last three years, we have launched our autumn membership special offer by saying that 'in a rapidly changing world, our wild plants have never been more in need of the support, understanding and appreciation that BSBI is uniquely placed to provide'. 

We'd love to be able to report that we've reached our strategic goal of 'a world where wild plants thrive and are valued and understood' but sadly, we are not there yet. Our Plant Atlas 2020 analyses and summary reports flagged how British and Irish wild flowers, and the many other species of wildlife who depend on them, are increasingly threatened. The evidence continues to build about how our climate is changing: thousands of you went out recording for the 2025 New Year Plant Hunt and found a total of 647 different species across Britain and Ireland managing to flower in deepest midwinter. It's wonderful to have those plant records - huge thanks to everyone who took part! - but the underlying message of plants and other wildlife going increasingly 'out of sync' as the world warms is deeply worrying. So, what can we do? 

Well, we can continue to build and support our friendly and  welcoming botanical community and keep on collecting the vital evidence about how our wild plant distributions are changing. Policy-makers rely on the robust data which are collected by BSBI's fabulous volunteer members and are then analysed and interpreted by our Science Team. That’s why today we are inviting you to join our growing ranks, if you haven't already, and asking our existing members to help us spread the word about the benefits of BSBI membership - for you and for our wonderful wild flowers. 

So, at a time when we are all counting the pennies, why join BSBI? And why now? There are three good reasons!

First of all, if you join BSBI in October, your annual membership starts at once so you could enjoy up to 15 months of membership benefits for the price of 12 months. You wouldn't need to renew your annual subscription until January 2027.

Secondly, we've continued to expand our range of membership benefits in the past year and there are even more in the pipeline:

• Members receive three issues each year of BSBI News, our colourful magazine packed with information about British and Irish wild flowers: visit our sampler page to check out the latest sample issue, and take a look at some of the free articles from recent issues – that will give you an idea of the contents.
• Last year we opened up membership access to the BSBI Distribution Database – with more than 60 million plant records, it’s one of the largest databases of biological records in the world. 
• Earlier this year we launched our new BSBI Recording App so it has never been easier to upload your plant records direct from your phone or computer to the BSBI Distribution Database, ready for verification by our experts. 
• Membership gives you favoured status when applying for BSBI training and plant study grants - if you're thinking of doing a plant ID course, such as BSBI's online Identiplant course or one of the many courses offered by external providers, you can apply for a grant of up to £250 to help you. These grants are also available to non-members but members are prioritised in the award process.
• Membership brings you big discounts on the series of BSBI Handbooks; pre-publication offers for members are usually around a third off. We have published two new Handbooks this year - Brambles of Scotland (£7 membership discount) and Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland (£9 membership discount) - and there are more titles in the pipeline.
• Members have exclusive access to almost 100 expert plant referees to help you with identification, to members-only volunteering opportunities and to 100+ scientific papers free to download from the password-protected members' area of our website.
• Membership also brings you big discounts on selected botany books, such as Urban Plants by Trevor Dines (£10 off) and Endemic by James Harding-Morris (£5 off) as well as other ad hoc offers and discounts from our partners.
• Coming soon: we've been working away behind the scenes to create a brand new BSBI website! Our over-riding aim has been to make all our current content even easier for you to access, with pointers and filters depending on your area of interest, your skill level or your accessibility needs. The new website goes live this autumn and we'll be consulting with members to keep improving it and adding even more content. 

Concerned about the environmental impact of your membership? By opting for digital membership and choosing eBooks rather than printed Handbooks, you'll be minimising your carbon footprint.

Wondering if your voice will be heard and your questions answered? Our latest membership survey went live last month and already, more than 1,200 of you have provided feedback about what you like and what we can improve. We're busy analysing that feedback now and will be reporting back to you in the Winter issue of BSBI News. We're also looking ahead to the 2026 online Forum where staff, trustees and membership representatives come together to brainstorm what we offer, how we work together and how we can continue to improve.  

But there's a third, very important, reason for joining the growing ranks of BSBI members - it's not just about all the many practical, social and financial benefits you'll enjoy. You'll also be helping us to support British and Irish wildflowers. 

How? Because while many of our >4,600 members carry out amazing work studying, recording, monitoring and helping to conserve wild plants across Britain and Ireland, feeding into projects such as Plant Atlas 2020, the State of Nature 2023 report, the many county Floras and the National Plant Monitoring Scheme in which BSBI is a partner, many others are simply happy to know that their subscription helps support our work to advance the understanding and appreciation of wild plants and to support their conservation across Britain and Ireland.

Check out our nature conservation policy and our strategic plan to find out more; discover how our botanical heatmaps, developed with Natural England, are helping to ensure that we get the right tree in the right place (and not in the wrong place!); check out the members who won awards in 2024 for outstanding contributions to botany; or leaf through our latest Annual Review to find out what the Society achieved last year thanks to all our wonderful members.

Want to know more about exactly how we spend the subscriptions we receive from members and the funding from external bodies? Our Annual Report and Accounts are always published on this page, while our Ethical Position Statement and our Reserves Policy can be viewed on our Governance page. Want to check that we will always respect your privacy and handle your data with the utmost care? Check out our Privacy Policy and Data Handling Policy.

If you are already a BSBI member, we'd like to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you for all that you do, and ask you to spread the word to friends and colleagues who you think might enjoy becoming a member - and don't forget that a gift membership of BSBI makes a great present for a loved one!

Our ranks are growing - by almost 30% in the last three years - so if you haven't yet joined us, why not head over here and become our next new member? We can't wait to welcome you and send you your membership welcome pack. Together we can keep working towards a world where wild plants across Britain and Ireland thrive and are valued - and so are the thousands of amazing BSBI botanists who support them.