6 ROSES FOR ENGLISH GARDENS 



flowers, Waltham Rambler and Eleanor Berkeley, 

 and Psyche, rosy-pink slightly tinted yellow. From 

 the same source on one side there are also Lion and 

 Wallflower, crimsons, and Electra, canary-yellow ; so 

 that from R. multiflora we have already all the best 

 colourings of which Roses are capable, while we may 

 confidently expect many other pretty things. 



The name polyantha for this Rose is as often given 

 as multiflora. It seems needless that the two forms 

 of the specific name should be almost equally in use, 

 the more so that they mean exactly the same thing, 

 polyantha being the Greek and multiflora the Latin 

 for "many-flowered." Another thing is puzzling to 

 the amateur, that the name polyantha is also used for 

 the class of quite dwarf Roses, such as Paquerette, 

 Mignonette, &c. It would seem more sensible to 

 keep the two classes quite apart and to use the name 

 polyantha or multiflora only for the rambling kinds 

 that retain the free-growing character of the type, 

 and to have for the smaller bushy kinds some simple 

 name that has no pretension to the character of a 

 botanical specific name. A botanical name is in 

 any case wrongly used for any class of garden flower 

 that is a hybrid or a still later cross, and that no- 

 where in nature exists in a single state. These smah 

 so-called polyantha Roses should be simply called 

 Pompon Roses, then there would be no puzzle or 

 ambiguity, and every one would know what was meant, 

 whereas if Roses fifteen inches and fifteen feet high 

 are both classed 3.s polyantha, unless the popular name 

 of each kind is known, there is sure to be confusion. 



