THE AYRSHIRE ROSE. 231 



with tho figure in the Botanical Magazine, it is not surprising that 

 the mistake has hitherto remained uncorrected ; hut to his opinion, 

 that the Rosa capreolata of Mr. Don, which is the true Ayrshire 

 Rose, is so identified with R. sempervirens, as not to differ from it in 

 any respect, or, in other words, is the same thing, I cannot assent ; 

 Mr. Liudley was induced, I apprehend, to give this opinion from 

 finding the hotanical character of R. capreolata, as drawn up by Mr. 

 Don, accord with R. sempervirens, and from believing the Rose he 

 saw at Kew to he the true Ayrshire ; hut I have ascertained that the 

 Ayrshire Rose was not in the Royal Gardens at the time when Mr. 

 Lindley there enquired for it, the one supposed to he it, being ac- 

 tually Rosa sempervirens. 



A more difficult task remains to be performed, that of ascertaining 

 what this shrub is. That it cannot be identified with the type of any 

 described species is clear ; it is equally certain that it has not yet 

 been found growing naturally wild any where, so as to enable us to 

 treat it as a species, or as one of those varieties of ascertained species 

 which, from their not being traceable to a single original, but being 

 abundant in the districts where they are found, I consider as a higher 

 class of variation, or as sub-species of a well defined type. If, as is 

 mentioned above, several plants of it were raised together, we have 

 still to look for its parent, which would probably agree with it, if 

 several of its seeds produced similar plants; but it does not seem 

 certain that more than one plant was first produced, and it may con- 

 sequently be considered as an accidental variety, referable either to 

 R. arvensis, or R. sempervirens. 



The Rosa arvensis is a very rare plant in Scotland, and does not, 

 as I am informed, grow wild in Ayrshire, therefore no seed of that 

 species could have come by chance from a native plant, to give it 

 being ; nor is it very likely that Rosa sempervirens, which, even in 

 the south of England, is a tender plant, would have freely ripened its 

 seeds in the climate of Scotland, so as to have casually produced the 

 young plant there. I therefore consider it more probable that the 

 new Rose did actually originate in the garden at Loudon Castle, from 

 some seed transmitted to, or collected for, the Earl of Loudon ; and 

 I think that the seed must have been that of Rosa sempervirens, 

 which if it was really imported from America, must have been the 

 produce of a garden plant, since the species is exotic in that country. 



The Ayrshire Rose certainly has more affinity to R. sempervirens 

 than to R. arvensis, the inflorescence especially accords exactly, the 

 chief differences being that the leaves of the Ayrshire Rose are deci- 

 duous, and that it flowers a little earlier in the season. Under Rosa 



