96 FLORA AND THALIA^ 



But I have left that comely cot, 



Where blossoms now my favourite tree ; 



And I possess an ampler spot, 

 Which boasts of more variety. 

 And more enraptures all but me. 



ALTERED FROM PARk's FILBERT TREE. 



PROVENCE, OR HUNDRED-LEAVED ROSE. 



{Rosa centifolia.) 



This elegant species of rose-bush, a native of 

 Europe, vpas first cultivated in Englahd in the year 

 1596. According to the Hortus Cantab rigiensis, 

 there are fifty-eight species of the Rose, of which the 

 moss rose is perhaps the most beautiful. This spe- 

 cies rises in our English gardens from four to five 

 feet ; but in Persia it grows to much greater perfec- 

 tion. Many of the roses, though so much cultivated 

 in our gardens, are far from being distinctly charac- 

 terised; those denominated varieties are extremely 

 numerous, and often permanently uniform ; and the 

 specific differences are, in many respects, so inade- 

 quate to the purpose of satisfactory disciimination, 

 that it becomes difficult to say which are varieties 

 only. 



