WILD ROSE 



Rosa Carolina L. 



May - June Pale pink, five, petaled, wild roses, fragrant with the 



Roadsides, woods essence of early summer, grow in a prickly tangle 



along railroad tracks, in woods, and in upland 

 pastures. 



Casually, the buds of roses open. They are fresh and new as the 

 morning of the world. They spread theii' uni(|ue j^erfume to the sun and 

 the butterflies, last but a day, and, when the sun is sliding into the west, 

 drop their five, heart-shaped, pink ])e(;als and prepare to open more buds 

 next morning. 



It is June in Illinois and roses are in l)locm. Over the whole northern 

 hemisphere, from China to Knghmd and fram Sandwich to Seattle, other 

 rose.s bloom. For although England claims the rose for its national em- 

 blem, Iowa, New York, and North Dakota call the American wild rose 

 their state flowers, and District of Columbia uses the American Beauty 

 as its own special flower, the rose belongs to the world. There is a vast 

 kinship and unity among the people everywhere who love roses. 



There are two upright bushy roses, commonly found on the uplands 

 of Illinois.* which are rather difficult to distinguish. The pasture rose 

 (Rosa Carolina) usually has straight ]jrickles. with glandular fruit and 

 usually with calyx lobes deciduous. The meadow rose (A'o.sa hlanda) 

 usually has no ])rickles. has smooth t'niit and usually |)ersistent calyx 

 lobes. Both \isually have leaves which have seven leallets. Another com- 

 mon rose, found on prairies and in moist woodlands, is the climbing rose 

 {Rosa setigera) which has long stems armed with curved pi'ickles; the. 

 leaves have three leaflets. 



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