CHAPTEK IV. 



SHRUBS BELONGING TO THE ROSE FAMILY THE WILD 



ROSE, ETC. 



CLOSELY related to the brambles are the dainty 

 wild roses,"* seven species of which are locally dis- 

 tributed along our roadsides from Maine to Minne- 

 sota. The most famous wild rose of the country is 

 the prairie rose (Rosa setigera) ; it grows only in the 

 West and South. This is a tall, climbing species 

 armed with nearly straight, large thorns ; the leaflets 



* As far as I could do so, I have avoided straight botanical 

 descriptions, yet have followed very closely Gray's records of the 

 salient points of each species, believing that these are the most 

 useful means for the identification of a rose. The few botanical 

 technicalities which occur I will explain thus: We should prop- 

 erly look at a leaf point up and stem down, just as we should 

 naturally look at an egg with the large end down ; an obovate leaf 

 is therefore wide end up, and of course stem end down. The 

 sepal of a flower is usually green and leaflike ; in the case of the 

 rose it enfolds the bud and finally withers away on the upper end 

 of the seed receptacle. The stipule of the leaf is that flaring 

 edge or leaflike formation of the leafstem next adjoining the 

 branch. It is necessary to understand these simple terms as they 

 bear directly upon the characteristic differences of species. 



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