ROSE ACACIA ROSENMULLER. 



21 



covered with a sort of down, and are attached 

 to the interior of the tube of the calyx, which, 

 after flowering, takes the form of a fleshy glo- 

 bular, or ovoid berry. The rose has given its 

 name to a distinct family of plants, the rosacea, 

 comprehending the apple, peach, cherry, raspberry, 

 strawberry, &c. Roses in general are not delicate 

 with respect to the nature of the soil, but flourish 

 in almost every kind. Their easy culture has dis- 

 tributed tin-in into almost every garden. The 

 colour is, in different species and varieties, red, 

 white, yellow, purple, or striped, either simple or 

 in almost numberless shades and mixtures; the 

 flowers are single, semidouble, and double. Many 

 hundred varieties are enumerated in the catalogues, 

 and new ones are produced annually : some of them 

 are quite black. New varieties are obtained from 

 seed, but the usual mode of propagation is by 

 layers. All will grow by cuttings, and some freely, 

 but this mode is seldom resorted to. For preserv- 

 ing delicate varieties, the best mode seems decid- 

 edly that of budding on hardier sorts. To produce 

 strong flowers, requires some attention in pruning : 

 old wood should be yearly cut out, and the young 

 shoots thinned and shortened according to their 

 strength, and whether number or magnitude of 

 flowers be desired. Where very large roses are 

 wanted, all the buds, except that on the extreme 

 point of each shoot should be pinched off as soon as 

 they make their appearance, and the plant liberally 

 supplied with water. Some roses are cultivated on 

 a large scale for commercial purposes, for distilling 

 rose water, and for making ottar or essential oil of 

 roses. Six pounds of rose petals will impregnate, by 

 distillation, a gallon of water strongly with their 

 odour ; but a hundred pounds scarcely affords half 

 an ounce of otta^r. (See Ottar of Roses.) Perfumers, 

 distillers, and confectioners make great use of the 

 perfume of the rose. A conserve and a sirup, which 

 are used in medicine, are also prepared from their 

 petals : these last, if bruised and reduced to a paste, 

 moulded and dried, will preserve their fragrance for 

 many years. In the north of Europe, the berries of 

 the rose with the addition of sugar, are sometimes 

 employed in the preparation of domestic wines ; and 

 the pulp, in a dried state, affords a grateful ingre- 

 dient in sauces. The leaves of every kind of rose 

 have been recommended as a substitute for tea, and 

 are employed in currying the finer kinds of leather. 



ROSE ACACIA (robinia hispida) ; a highly or- 

 namental, flowering shrub, inhabiting the southern 

 parts of the Alleghany mountains, and now fre- 

 quently seen in gardens, in Europe. It is a species 

 of locust, and the flowers resemble those of the 

 common locust, but are very large and rose-coloured. 

 Their beauty is enhanced by the brown, bristly 

 covering of the stalks and calyx ; they somewhat 

 resemble the moss rose, in this respect. The stem 

 is very hispid. See Locust. 



ROSE FEAST. At Salency (a village near 

 Noyon, in the ci-devant Picardy, now department 

 of the Oise), a festival, of a peculiar kind, is cele- 

 brated June 8. A girl is selected (formerly by the 

 seigneur, at present probably by the justice of the 

 peace), from three most distinguished for female 

 virtues. Her name is even pronounced from the 

 pulpit, that objections may be made to her. She is 

 afterwards conducted in procession to the church, 

 where she hears the vesper service, kneeling in a 

 place of honour. After this she used to open a ball 

 in the evening with the seigneur. She receives a 

 present. The girl is called la rosiere, because she 



is adorned with roses. The feast was imitated in 

 several other places, (e. g. at Surenne, near Paris.) 

 Though the effect has been good, it is undoubtedly 

 exaggerated by some travellers. The 8th of June 

 is the day of St Medard, bishop of Noyon, (475 to 

 545,) and tradition says he established the festival, 

 but the Bollandists (q. v.) mention nothing of this 

 fact. It is more probable that its foundation dates 

 from the time of Louis XIII. From him comes the 

 silver clasp which holds the wreath of roses together; 

 and to his time probably belongs the picture of the 

 first rose feast in the church of Salency. 



ROSE OF -JERICHO (anastatica hierichuntia) : 

 a cruciferous plant, growing in the arid wastes of 

 Arabia and Palestine, which possesses the curious 

 property of recovering its original form, however 

 dry it may be, upon immersion in water. The 

 generic name j^is been applied to it from this cir- 

 cumstance, and, in the Greek, signifies resurrection. 

 It is a small, annual, herbaceous plant, three or four 

 inches high, with minute white flowers, which are 

 succeeded by a little pod, divided into two cells, 

 each containing one or two seeds. When the seeds 

 are ripe, the leaves fall off, the branches curl inwards, 

 and interlace, forming a rounded pellet about as 

 large as the fist, which is torn up and rolled over 

 the sands by the autumnal winds. In this state, if 

 moistened, it gradually unrolls its branches, and 

 contracts again into a ball as it becomes dry. This 

 circumstance has often been taken advantage of to 

 impose on credulous persons. 



ROSE- WOOD (amyris balsamifera} ; a small 

 West Indian tree, the wood of which forms an im- 

 portant article of commerce, and is much used by 

 cabinet-makers for the covering or veneering of 

 tables and other furniture. Its grain is of a dark 

 colour, and very beautiful. The tree yields an 

 odoriferous balsam, much esteemed as a medicine 

 in various diseases, and as an external application. 

 A species of amyris grows wild in East Florida; 

 but it is little known. 



ROSEMARY (rosemarinus officinalis*); a shrub- 

 by, aromatic plant, growing wild in the southern 

 parts of Europe. It belongs to the labiates, and 

 has but two stamens. The stem is three or four 

 feet high, bearing opposite linear and sessile leaves 

 which are smooth and shining above, and whitish 

 and cottony on their inferior surface ; the flowers 

 are pale-blue, or almost ash-coloured, and disposed 

 in little racemes, which arise from the axils of the 

 leaves towards the extremities of the branches: 

 they expand in April and May. All parts of the 

 plant have a strong and penetrating odour. The 

 leaves are used in Italy for seasoning certain dishes. 

 Rosemary is tonic and stimulant, and formerly en- 

 joyed considerable repute as a medicine, but is now 

 rarely employed. It yields, by distillation, a light, 

 pale, essential oil, of great fragrance. It is less 

 used in medicine than as an aromatic, and is the 

 principal ingredient in Hungary water A second 

 species of rosemary is found towards the southern 

 extreme of South America. 



ROSENMULLER, JOHN GEOIIGE, a celebrated 

 German theologian (born in 1736, died in 1815), 

 was professor of theology at Erlangen and Leipsic, 

 and distinguished himself as a preacher, and by his 

 activity in the cause of education. Of his numerous 

 works, we shall mention only his Scholia in N. Tes- 

 tament., and his Hist. Interpretationis JLibrornm 

 Sacrorum (5 vols., 1795 1814). His son Ernest 

 Frederic Charles, a distinguished Orientalist, born 

 in 1768, was educated at Leipsic, where he heard 



