1913] The Ottawa Naturalist. 91 



at all the destinies of the race; but the role played by the rose, 

 if we mav consider the good influences exerted by it, in 

 this way, has always been beneficent or interesting, and to such 

 an extent is this true that it is quite easy to divide this influence 

 into various phases. 



One of the very pleasing minor duties of the rose has been 

 to hand on to us, as it were, a little series of biographical or 

 historical notes on those personages who have had their names 

 immortalized through association with the "queen of flowers." 

 One instance will be sufficient perhaps to indicate what is meant. 

 It mav be best given in the form of a story of one of the most 

 prized of the older roses; it is a dainty story of a notable rose 

 from France. "When Niel, a brave French general, was return- 

 ing from the scene of his victories in the war between France and 

 Austria, he received from a peasant, who wished to honor the 

 hero, a basket of beautiful pale yellow roses. One of the stems, 

 which happened to have a root clinging to it, the general took 

 to a florist in Paris, in whose care it remained until it became a 

 thriving bush covered with blossoms. Niel then took the plant 

 as a gift to the Empress Eugenie. She expressed great admira- 

 tion for the exquisite flowers and on learning that the rose was 

 nameless said significantly "Then I will name it. It shall be 

 'The Marechal Niel' and at the same moment she bestowed 

 upon the astonished general the jeweled baton that betokened 

 his promotion to the high office of Marechal of France." 



Lord Penzance, who has given us some beautiful brier roses, 

 will be remembered as a great lawyer, but much as law r mav do 

 to carry his name down the pages of history, his rose creations 

 will do much more. William Allen Richardson is an unknown 

 entity, but known in literature because his name became that of 

 a rose, and Dorothy Perkins, Mrs. John Laing, and many others 

 are names which will be household words for many years at 

 least because their possessors loved the rose. 



The only other minor role of the rose which we shall men- 

 tion is one wmieh is of greater interest to those interested in it 

 from the botanical and historical standpoints than it is to the 

 average grower. Botanists well know that the rose is native 

 onlv to the temperate parts of this world; they also know that 

 we have about nine species native to this country. The genus 

 Rosa is not large, Gray mentions only fifteen species. Great 

 Britain and Denmark claim about twenty species. The interest- 

 ing part about these native species is that in working with them 

 the hvbridist found that they responded in a remarkable way 

 to cross-fertilization. Until the year 1867 new roses other than 

 the original species were few in number and mostlv plants of 

 chance. When, however, about that date a Mr. Bennett, in 



