120 DESCRIPTION OP THE ROSE. 



exposed situations, the above Moss roses bear seed in 

 tolerable abundance. The treatment of the hips, sowing 

 the seed, and the management of the young plants, as 

 applicable to all, has already been given." Mivers. 



Rosa Damascena. Any deeply colored rose is popu- 

 larly called a Damask ; but the true Damask the rose 

 of Damascus is of various shades, from the darkest to 

 the lightest. Ah 1 these varieties have sprung from one 

 origin, the wild rose of Syria, which was introduced into 

 England in the year 1573, or, according to some writers, 

 much earlier. It is this rose from which is made the rose- 

 water of the East, and on this the Eastern poets and their 

 Western imitators have lavished the wealth of their fancy. 

 In poetry, indeed, the Damask Rose has woven more gar- 

 lands than the Moss. Nor is it unknown to history, since 

 the five hundred camel-loads of rose-water with which the 

 Sultan Saladin purified the Mosque of Omar after it had 

 been used as a Christian church were doubtless distilled 

 from its leaves. But, without falling into an anachronism, 

 it is hardly possible to claim for it, as some have done, the 



