Welcome to the club...... Could someone post or point to a good pic of Laxa in bloom? This does look rather similar to what I have in my not-Magnifica thread.. We might be onto something here, we should coordinate our mystery rose searches!

..thanks both.... Nik, I've been on the receiving end of incorrectly named roses since I started gardening mid 1980's.... the first one was the rambler 'Albertine' which I soon realised turned out to be 'Francois Juranville'.... which I didn't mind actually.... it's been downhill ever since...
...my rose is full of buds so should start opening shortly then we can see the flowers.... I think if Laxa they should be white..?... and if Canina ...single blush pink...

..perhaps it will sort out your own puzzle too....

Ah, canina (not so much the Laxa selection) is notorious for being highly variable even in the wild..

Here's a quick blurb from the Greenmantle Nursery web site... I didn't know there were two 'Laxa's'?:

Rosa canina 'LAXA' - A peerless form of the native European Dog Brier which has the fantastic quality of near thornlessness .........because it was originally selected and introduced in 1890 by Otto Froebelli of Zurich for use as an understock. As such, it is extremely hardy, tough, disease-resistant and prone to spread by rootsuckers and seeds. The flowers are completely unnoticeable - palest pink and five-petaled - fleeting for a month or so in late Spring. But each one becames an inch long oval Hip of deep crimson: these have good flavor - and most importantly will last far into real winter without deteriorating at all on the bush. Very handy for spur-of-the-moment harvest. This rose should NOT to be confused with Rosa laxa (Retzius)....

Rosa laxa (Retzius) - This rather rare species from Turkestan was first described by the Swedish botanist Anders Johan Retzius (1742-1821). The true Rosa laxa came to us from a Canadian correspondent twenty years ago and we are extremely grateful to have been able to obtain it... This tough hardy shrub has greyish-green leaves and five-petaled white flowers - followed by curvaceous deep red Rose Hips. Research has shown that this Species offers one of the highest vitamin C levels of any Hip.

http://www.greenmantlenursery.com/2008revision/roses2008/La%20Vie%20en%20Rose.htm

I hope this is helpful,

Virginia

We're talking about the first one, a canina selection or cultivar which is widely used as a rootstock in Europe (especially in the UK and France, other canina varieties are more common in Northern Europe).

The individual flowers of my mystery rose match the above description of 'Laxa' flowers but are these produced in trusses of very many flowers?

..how interesting Virginia..thank you.... near thornlessness....well I've just checked mine and I would agree with that...there are some, a few near the base, and very small prickles on the back of the leaf shoots (petioles) and near the top of the flowering stems under the buds (peduncles)...

...flowers completely unnoticeable...palest pink...I shall soon know on that one ....

..but lovely hips by the sound of things..... I'm not sure now I can dismiss this plant... the grey/bluey matt foliage, so fresh and clean, is a joy to behold on its own... but is acting as a fine companion to more exuberant plantings...

Oh, I think that is almost certainly canina laxa - judging from the rootstock which has recently suckered out on moyesii, Arthur Bell and a few bird sown seedlings on the allotment. Lovely, very softly matte foliage...and vigorous - long, arching canes which easily stretch 3m a season, sometimes more. It does look very similar to the apple rose, r.pomifera duplex aka Wolley Dod's rose or even r. villosa but the blooms and more importantly, the heps, will definitely clear up any ambiguity between the two possibilities. I have seen Laxa (rootstock) make clusters of flowers (but only 5 or so, not 30, like multiflora). One of them should be written with a capital but my botanical nomenclature is a disgraceful mess and I cannot recall which is which in nominative form.
Nik, I did wonder if you had dismissed rootstock since the timing, if nothing else, seemed highly coincidental - ie. just as wildlings of canina and rubiginosa are just coming into full flush (and I am sure you are a couple of weeks ahead of us in the UK), yours was in bloom.

Camps we are more than a couple of weeks ahead of you. More like a month and this has been a late start year. Other once bloomers are already past their peak flush while this rose of mine is still not in its prime. Your description sounds very close but the clusters are large, not 5 nor 30 maybe 50 or more. I don't want to continue hijacking this thread, maybe the two mystery roses are the same but maybe they aren't.

The rootstock Laxa should be written with capital L since Laxa is a cultivar name and not part of the species name. Rosa canina ' Laxa' is the proper form, I think.

Oh no, not Laxa then,- -mine are in bud with 2 or 3 buds. And late as well. Well, it is still a baby - helenae and Pleine de Grace, two I grow with similar foliage and flower structure, took 3 seasons to really take off into full-on rambling growth - they put on some foundation architecture before flinging long canes around. I guess the heps are going to be a helpful indicator. Funnily enough, I am also growing a couple of multifloras - just the species and carnea but they are babies and have not flowered yet...but I do find relying on fragrance (or not) as a guide to identification, to be very patchy for my undiscerning nose.

..just to update this thread, as the first flower finally opened today.... with a few holes I notice and the palest pink - virtually white to my eye - and conforms to what has already been said here... therefore 'Laxa' it is, or to be more precise R. frobellii 'Laxa', I think is correct... our common rootstock rose... thanks to Virginia for pointing me in the right direction...

..I shall keep it to see the hips but after that, if I get around to it, I'd like to plant it in one of the many hedgerow's near me...

Which settles the issue if this and my mystery roses are the same. They are not. This does indeed look like a canina variety so I suppose it is Laxa.