BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vol. IX.l New York, August, 1882. . [No. 8 



A New North American Rose. 



By C. C. Parry. 



On a recent botanical excursion in the upper part of Lower Cal- 

 ifornia, between the 5th and 15th of April of the present year (1882), 

 among other interesting discoveries in that little-known district, a 

 remarkable new species oi Rosa was met with, which, on account of its 

 peculiar botanical and horticultural features, seems deserving of an 

 early notice. 



It was first seen in riding along a well-travelled road, skirting the 

 shores of All Saints' Bay, between Sanyal and Encenada, about the 

 parallel of 32*^ N. latitude, becoming abundant, and forming dense 

 low thickets on dry slopes shut off from the sea-breezes, and com- 

 posed of crumbling ferruginous sandstone. Forming, as it did, a 

 most conspicuous and agreeable feature in the arid landscape, with 

 its finely divided foliage and showy pink or white flowers, it attracted 

 the attention of all the members of the party, which included 

 Messrs. C. G. Pringle^ C. R. Orcutt, M. E, Jones and the writer, 

 by all of whom full collections were made. 



Specimens were shortly afterward sent to Dr. Engelmann, of St- 

 Louis, who, at the request of three of the discoverers, Mr. Pringle, 

 Mr. Orcutt and myself, has kindly furnished the following diag- 

 nosis and description, from which the readers of the Bulletin can 

 form a clear Idea of its peculiar botanical characteristics : 



Rosa minutifolia, n, sp, — A much-branched shrub, 2-4 feet high; ^ 





shoots pubescent, densely covered wath straight or slightly recurved, 

 red-brown, bristly, at first pubescent spines, their leaves with broad, 

 divaricately auricled stipules, and mostly 5 leaflets ; fertile branches 

 bearing numerous terete, subulate spines, some of the shorter 

 and more persistent ones often in pairs under the branchlets ; leaves 

 fasciculated on short spurs, narrow stipules divaricately auricled, 

 leaflets minute (only 1—2 lines long, the lowest pairs the smallest) 

 oval, simply incised-dentate, pubescent, not glandular; flowers 



sinde, 1 — i inch wide, on tomentose, bractless pedvmcles from be- 



tween the leaves ; calyx-tube globular, densely setose-hispid, a thick 

 nectariferous ring contracting its opening ; petals suborbicular, 



scarcely emarginate, deep rose-purple or white ; central ovules 

 borne on short stipes; styles distinct, short, woolly. 



Described from specimens sent by Dr. C C. Parry and M. E. 

 Jones. A most striking and lovely species, distinguished from all 

 other roses by its minute, deeply incised leaflets. The young shoots 

 have larger, distant leaves, with fewer, but larger leaflets, the termi- 

 nal one the largest, sometimes 4 or 5 lines long; fragrance faint. 

 This species is quite peculiar among its American congeners, and 

 even among the roses of the Old World, so that it is difficult to de- 

 termine its true position. In aspect and habit it comes nearest to the 



