The petals of edible roses can be eaten, while the petals of ornamental roses cannot be eaten.

The roses we usually see are actually ornamental roses, and most of them are not real roses, but moonflowers that look like roses. The rose tea drinks and edible rose flower cakes are made from edible roses.

Currently in China, the main varieties of edible roses include Gansu's Bitter Water Rose, Shandong's Pingyin Rose, the Damascus Rose introduced from abroad, and France's Thousand Leaf Rose.

Pictures of Bitter Water Roses:

The difference in appearance between ornamental roses and edible roses is relatively large. Edible roses have small flowers and are more simple in color and are mainly used for food. Ornamental roses are large, colorful, and showy, and are mostly used for decorative purposes.

Edible roses are mainly used as edible raw materials, such as the production of rose oil, but also can be used as medicine, not only can regulate qi and blood, liver and depression, but also to relieve liver and stomach pain, eating less vomiting, menstrual disorders, bruises and other symptoms.

Ornamental roses are mainly ornamental, with little medicinal value, not to mention edible. Ornamental roses are mainly red roses, such as Samantha, Dallas, etc., and the more famous blue siren, white roses, yellow roses and so on.