CLASS XII. ORDER III.] ROSA. fiQQ 



The flowers of this species have a very powerful sraell, resembling 

 that of the Hawthorn, and were supposed at one time to possess anti- 

 spasmodic properties, but are not now used in medicine. The leaves 

 are slightly bitter, and somewhat astringent. It is refused by most 

 cattle, and seems to be a more ornamental than useful plant. From 

 its frequently growing in meadows, and the fragrance of the flowers, it 

 has got the name of Meadow-sweet, and to these qualities add the 

 beauty of the plant and its flowers,. and the title to its appellation of 

 the Queen of the Meadows will be found not inappropriate, and with 

 Mrs. Hemans we may say — 



" This foam like meadow sweet. 

 Is from the cool green shadowy river nook, 

 Where the stream chimes around th' old mossy stones, 

 With sound like childhood's laughter." 



ORDER III. 



POLYGYN'IA. Many Pistils. 



GENUS VIII. RO'SA.— Linn. Hose. 



Nat. Ord. RosA'cEiE. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx urn-shaped, limb of five segments, tube fleshy, 

 the apex constricted into a ring, or glandular disk. Petals five, 

 and with the stamens inserted before the disk. Carpels numerous, 

 bristly, inclosed in the calyx tube.— Name from rhos, red in 

 Armorican ; whence the Greek poJov, a rose; and rosa, Latin. 

 1. CiNNAMOME^, Lind. Branches setigerous. Prickles scarcely 

 curved^ sometimes wanting. Flowers with hractea. Leaflets 

 lanceolate or oblong^ without glands. Disk thin. 

 1. R. Dickso'ni, Lind. (Fig. 797.) Dickson's Pose. Branches 

 flexous, with a few slender subulate scattered prickles ; leaflets ovate, 

 unequal, with coarse irregular double serratures, hoary, and slightly 

 glandular beneath ; bracteas large; calyx segments long, simple; 

 fruit naked, ovate urceolate. 



Lindley's Trans, of Hort. Soc. v. 6. p. 224.— English Botany, Supp. 

 t. 2707.— Hooker, British Flora, ed. 3. vol. i. p 226.— i?. Dicksoniana. 

 — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 99. 



An upright shrub, with divaricated flexuous branches, the hark of a 

 bright red, pale green when young. Prickles slender, awl-shaped, 

 straight, or slightly curved and dilated at the base, in pairs beneath the 

 leaves, and scattered over the branches, though not very numerous. 

 Leaves with the common footstalk downy, and mostly with a few 



