The aim of the study was to determine the content and composition of phenolic compounds in autochthonous rose hips (R. pendulina, R. spinosissima and R. gallica) and to compare them with the content of phenolic compounds in their cultivars (‘Harstad’, ‘Bourgogne’, ‘Mount Everest’, ‘Poppius’, ‘Frühlingsduft’, ‘Single Cherry’, ‘Frühlingsmorgen’, ‘ Violacea’ and ‘Splendens’) collected in Arboretum Volčji Potok in Slovenia. The total content of phenolic compounds in the flesh with skin was lowest in ‘Mount Everest’ (3603.57 mg · kg−1 f.w.), which is derived from R. pendulina, and highest in ‘Splendens’ (68789.39 mg · g−1 f.w.), which is derived from R. gallica. In seeds, the phenolic compound content was lower, as expected, ranging from 757.02 mg · kg−1 f.w. (‘Mount Everest’) to 6823.21 mg · kg−1 f.w. (‘Single Cherry’). It can be concluded that the cultivars differ significantly from each other due to the content of different bioactive compounds. Based on the obtained results, we cannot determine to which basic rose plant the cultivar belongs based only on the content of one analysed compound. The contents were very different because only one parent plant is known for a given cultivar and breeding programmes in roses were very narrowly focussed on specific targets.
