171 



plants were budded on uncongenial understocks. In the spring- 

 of 1933, plants on their own roots were set out in the hope that 

 they would do better and they have done so. Theophrastus 

 refers to this species in his Enquiry into Plants, YI. vi, 3-5: 

 "Among roses there are many differences, in the number of 

 petals, in roughness, in beauty of colour and in sweetness of 

 scent. Most have five petals, but some have twelve or twenty, 

 and some a great many more than these; for there are some, they 

 say, which are even called 'hundred petalled.' Most of such 

 roses grow near Philippi; for the people of that place get them on 

 Mount Pangaeus where they are abundant and plant them." ' 



Considerable confusion exists regarding the nomenclature of 

 these old roses. Ellen Willmott, in The Genus Rosa, says, "The 

 Provins Rose is generally regarded as a variety of Rosa centifolia 

 L. and the Provence Rose of Rosa gallica L." Parsons, however, 

 and Nicolas, say that the Provins Rose is Rosa gallica, and in 

 Rehder's Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrtibs and in Stand- 

 ardized Plant Names the Provence Rose is referred to R. centifolia. 



The town of Provins in France is (or was) famous for its 

 Conserve of Roses. Presumably, this is made from one or the 

 other of the roses just mentioned — probably Rosa gallica var. 



The Damask Rose, Rosa damascena, is supposed to be one of 

 the species that helped Paestum achieve its fame for the beauty 

 of its roses in the time of the Roman Emperors. The colors of 

 both York and Lancaster are combined in the rose of that name 

 which, in the terminology of the botanists, is Rosa damascena 

 Vcir. versicolor. Our group of "York and Lancaster" was re- 

 ceived with the assurance that it was the true variety, but it lits 

 the description of a parti-colored form {Rosa gallica var. versi- 

 color) of the French Rose. This rose, whose flowers are striped 

 red and white, is sometimes called Fair Rosamond's Rose, and 

 is usually listed in catalogs as Rosa-AIundi. The name York 

 and Lancaster is often misapplied to this variety. The true (we 

 hope!) York and Lancaster will be planted in our garden this 

 fall (1939). 



"Attar of Roses" is obtained from the Damask Rose — largely 



1 Theophrastus. Enquiry into l^laiits. Eng. Trans, by Sir Arthur Iloyt. 

 Vol. 2: 39. 



