<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>Carotenoid composition of fruits of two Rosa species (<jats:italic>Rosa canina</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Rosa rugosa</jats:italic>) and of chokeberry (<jats:italic>Aronia melanocarpa</jats:italic>) was studied by high performance liquid chromatography. Nine carotenoids were determined: three carotenes (lycopene, ζ‐carotene, β‐carotene) and six xanthophylls (neoxanthin, trans‐violaxanthin, cis‐violaxan‐thin, 5,6‐epoxylutein, lutein, β‐cryptoxanthin). This high number of compounds classified these fruits among those with the greatest variety of carotenoid pigments. Quantitatively large differences occurred in the carotenoid composition of the three fruits. Rosa hips contained the highest concentrations of total carotenoids, which were mainly comprised of lycopene and βcarotene. Conversely, total xanthophylls were low. In contrast to Rosa, fruits of Aronia were lower in total carotenoids while xanthophylls composed a higher proportion.