This climbing species has thornless stems to 40 ft (12 m) in height and half that in spread. The double, rosette-shaped white flowers appear in clusters in spring. Rosa banksiae var. banksiae (syn. R. b. ‘Alba Plena’), the Lady Banks rose, has long, arching, thornless canes and slender, pointed, dark green, smooth and leathery leaflets, 3 or 5 per stem; the foliage is evergreen and disease free. The sweetly scented, double white flowers appear in spring in clusters of 3 to 7 flowers. The hips, borne rarely, are small and dull red. R. b. var. normalis ‘Lutea’, from central and western China, has long, arching, thornless canes and grows to 12 ft (3.5 m) in height and spread. There are 3 to 7 evergreen, slender, dark green, leathery leaflets per stem. The single yellow spring flowers, with prominent stamens, are sweetly scented and grow in clusters of 3 to 7 flowers. The hips are small and dull red.