NAT. ORDER, 



Rosacece. 



ROSA ItfUSCOSA. MOSS ROSE. 



Class XII. IcosANDRiA. OixUr V. Polygynia. 



Gen. Char. Qili/.r, pitclier-sliaped, five-cleft, fleshy, contracted at 

 the neck. Petals, (ive. Seals, many, hispid, fastened to the 

 inner side of the caJyx. 



Spc. C'tar. Fruit, ovate, turgid, with the peduncles hispid. Stem 

 and Petioles, prickly. 



The Posa niusc>)sa agrees very much in character with the 

 Posa cenfifolia. The peduncles are bracteate; leojlets oblong or 

 ovate, wrinkled ; disc thickened, closing the throat; scpcds compound. 

 This division comprises the portion which has most particularly 

 interested the lovers of flowers. It is probable that the earliest of 

 which there are any records as being cultivated belongs to some 

 portion of it ; but to which particular species those of the Cyrene 

 or Mount Pangseus are to be referred, is now too late to inquire. 



The ottar of Roses, which is an important article of commerce, 

 is either obtained from them indiscriminately, as in the manufactory 

 at Florence, conducted by a convent of friars, or from some partic- 

 ular kind, as in India. It appears, from specimens brought from 

 Chizapore, by Col. Hardwicke, that the Moss Rose is there exclu- 

 sively used for obtaining the essential oil. The Persians also make 

 U.so of a sort which Ka'iupfer culls Posa shirazcnsis, from its growing 

 about Shii*az, in preference to others. It is, however, well known 



Vol. iii.— 119. 



