DESCRIPTION OP THE ROSE. 99 



botanists. Its garden classification quite another mat- 

 ter is no less a source of embarrassment to its amateur, 

 not to say professional, cultivator. To many, indeed, its 

 entire nomenclature is a labyrinth of confusion ; and some 

 have gone to the length of proposing to abolish distinc- 

 tions, which, in their eyes, seem arbitrary or fanciful. These 

 distinctions, however, are founded in Nature, though the 

 superstructure built upon her is sometimes flimsy enough 

 to justify the impatience of its assailants. The chief diffi- 

 culty arises from the extent to which the hybridization 

 of the rose has been carried, and the vast entanglement of 

 combinations which has resulted. Out of a propensity to 

 classify, where, in the nature of things, precise classification 

 is impossible, has arisen the equivocal and shadowy char- 

 acter of many of the nominal distinctions. 



Omitting less important divisions, the following are the 

 groups into which cultivated roses are ordinarily divided : 

 The Provence,* the Moss,* the French,* the Hybrid China, 

 the Damask,* the Alba,* the Austrian Brier,* the Sweet- 

 brier,* the Scotch,* the Double Yellow,* the Ayrshire,* 

 the Sempervirens,* the Multiflora,* the Boursault,* the 

 Banksia,* the Prairie.* These bloom once in the season. 

 The following are perpetual or remontant: The China,* 



