The Rosaceae are characterized by:

• Habit:  shrubs, trees, rarely herbs
• Leaves:  alternate (opposite); simple or compound; stipulate (estipulate)
• Plants:  synoecious (rarely monoecious or dioecious)
• Inflorescence:  cymose; determinate or indeterminate
• Flowers:  perfect (rarely imperfect); regular (rarely irregular); hypanthium well-developed
• Sepals:  5 (4-many); connate; sometimes bractlets
• Petals:  5 (4-many, absent), separate
• Stamens:  10-many (1-), distant
• Ovary:  1-many carpels, distinct or 2-5 connate; superior, unilocular with 1-2 (many) marginal ovules (rarely 2-5 locules and axile ovules) or ovary inferior with 2-5 locules and 1-2 (many) axile ovules; styles 1 per carpel, distinct
• Fruit:  drupe, achene, follicle, pome, capsule, aggregates of these