BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION. 21 



Prickles strong, hooked. Leaflets simply serrated, point- 

 ed, quite smooth. Sepals pinnate. Fruit ovate, smooth, 

 or rather bristly, like the aggregate flower stalks. Na- 

 tive throughout Europe, and Uie north of Africa ; plenti- 

 ful in Britain, in hedges, woods, and thickets. Flowers 

 rather large, pale red, seldom white. Fruit, ovate, bright 

 scarlet, of^a peculiar and very grateful flavor, especially 

 if made into a conserve with sugar. The pulp of the 

 fruit, besides saccharine matter, contains citric acid, which 

 gives it an acid taste. The pulj), before it is used, should 

 be carefully cleared from the nuts or seeds. A shrub, 

 growing to the height of six feet or ten feet, and flower- 

 ing in June and July. 



R, Indie a, X. — The India or China Rose. — Stem up- 

 right, whitish, or green, or purple. Prickles stout, falcate, 

 distant. Leaflets 3 to 5, ovate-acuminate, coriaceous, 

 shining, glabrous, serrulate, the surfaces of difierent col- 

 ors. Stipules very narrow, connate with the petiole, al- 

 most entire, or serrate. Flowers solitary, or in panicles. 

 Stamens bent inward. Peduncle sub-articulate, mostly 

 thickened upward, and with the calyx smooth, or Avrinkled 

 and bristly. Native of China, near Canton. Flowers 

 red, usually semi-double. Petioles setigerous and prickly. 

 Petals obcordate. A shrub, growing to the height of 

 from 4 feet to 20 feet, and flowering throughout the year. 



Varieties. — There are numerous varieties of this beauti- 

 ful rose in cultivation, some of which were regarded as 

 distinct species by the earlier authors. The following ars 

 quite distinct, and may each be considered the type of a 

 long list of subvarieties. 



Var. IVoisettiana. — The Noisette Rose. — Stem firm, 

 and, as well as the branches, prickly. Stipules nearly en- 

 tire. Flowers panicled, very numerous, semi-double, pale 

 red. Styles exserted. 



This well-known and very beautiful rose is almost in- 

 valuable in a shrubbery, from its free and vigorous growth, 

 and the profusion of its flowers, which are continually 

 being produced during the whole summer. 



Var. odoratissima.— The Tea-scented China Rose. 



