232 WILD FLOWERS OF 



Britain almost say at the present time, so numerous 

 are the groups, forms, and varieties of roses now in 

 cultivation. 



" What were life without its rose ?" 



A very brief botanical reference to the numerous 

 species and varieties of Hoses must here suffice, more 

 especially when in fact the different supposed species 

 so approximate to each other, that it is often difficult 

 to draw the line of distinction between them ; and 

 LiNisr^us was of opinion that nature herelf had, in 

 this genus, prescribed no certain limits. The lovers 

 of Eoses may, however consult Dr. LINDLEY.'S cele- 

 brated Monograph on the genus ; Miss LAWRENCE'S 

 work, where ninety kinds are figured ; the various 

 Moras, where they are enumerated ; LOUDON'S Arbo- 

 retum; or the splendid French work of M. REDOTJTE, 

 containing descriptions of eight hundred various 

 kinds. More than that number are now cultivated 

 in England in the various nurseries ; and, according 

 to M. DESPORTES, the French can boast no less than 

 2,533 named varieties.* LOTJDON has, however, only 



* The curious and whimsical names imposed by cultivators upon the 

 constantly increasing varieties of roses, is thus descanted upon by Mr. 

 DOWNING, in the Horticulturist, a transatlantic publication." Undoubt- 

 edly there is an embarass de richesse* in the multitude of beautiful varie- 

 ties that compose the groups and subdivisions of the rose family. So 

 many lovely forms and colours are there dazzling the eye and attracting 

 the senses, that it requires a man or woman of nerve as well as taste to 

 decide and select. Some of the great rose-growers continually try to 

 confuse the poor amateur by their long catalogues, and by their advertise- 

 ments about ' acres of roses.' Mr. PAUL, an English nurseryman, pub- 

 lished, in June last, that he had 70, 000 plants in bloom at once. This is 

 puzzling enough, even to one who has his eyes wide open, and the sorts 

 in full blaze of beauty before them. What, then, must be the quandary 

 in which the novice not yet introduced into the aristocracy of roses, 

 whose knowledge only goes up to a ' cabbage rose,' or a ' majdens's blush,' 

 and who has in his hand a long list of some great collector what, we 

 say, must be his perplexity when he suddenly finds himself amidst all the 



