rose or sucker

[hazelcs]

Do roses have 5 or 7 leaves as i cant decide if my silver wedding rose has nearly died and the sucker has taken over

[Clanad]

Actually, what we would normally recognize as a leaf on a rose is a series of "lobes" which I think you are decribing. On almost all roses there are 3 or 5 lobes on each "leaf". To determine if what you're experiencing is a "sucker" and, if the rose is a hybrid tea, then look for the grafted "knob" near the bottom of the main plant. If it's there, any grwoth coming from beneath this "knob" will be a wild sucker of the base plant ansud needs to be cut back, preferably below the surface of the ground...

[Thunderbird+]

The rose in question is a floribunda which usually comes in 'bush' form or 'half standard', in whatever case suckers need to be removed to avoid reversion.
All roses have what is known as 'pinate' leaves, ie a stalk with several leaves coming off of it, in my experience cultivated roses usually have 5 leaves per stalk but suckers often have 7 or more and are usually easily reconised by being a lighter/ brighter green compaired to the rest of the bush.
As Clanad suggests the suckers should be cut back below ground, if this is where they're coming from, draw the soil away with a hoe to determin exactly where the sucker starts from and cut with your secautres as close to the main plant as possible, push back soil and firm down well with your heel. All the best Tbird+