The rose hip is the ripe, fleshy false fruit of the wild rose (chiefly Rosa canina, the dog rose), a small scarlet-to-orange pome-like berry left behind when the petals fall. Tart, faintly floral and extraordinarily rich in vitamin C, it is a foraged hedgerow staple across the temperate north — the base of Scandinavian nyponsoppa soup, of rose-hip tea, syrup and jam, and of the ubiquitous northern-European vitamin cordial.