424 ROSA 



It is regarded as the type of a large group of roses whose leading distinctions 

 are : prickles often in pairs just below the leaf-stalks ; fruit red, smooth, 

 with a thin skin. 



R. DAMASCENA, Miller. DAMASK ROSE. 



A bush up to 8 ft. high, the upright steins armed with stout, hooked 

 spines from \ in. long, down to mere prickly bristles. Leaflets usually five, oval 

 or ovate, simply toothed, f to 2 ins. long ; smooth above, pale green and 

 downy beneath. Flowers very fragrant, borne in large clusters of sometimes 

 a dozen, blush-white to red, each on a long stalk, densely covered with 

 glandular bristles and small prickles. Sepals I in. or more long, slightly 

 expanded at the tip, very much reflexed, and like the calyx-tube more or less 

 glandular-bristly on the back. Fruit elongated, somewhat pear-shaped, I in. 

 long, red, bristly, with the sepals fallen away. 



A rose cultivated from time immemorial in E. Europe and the Orient 

 generally. It has been suggested that it is a hybrid between R. gallica and 

 moschata, which is doubtful. To R. gallica it is no doubt allied, but is to be 

 distinguished by the following characters : taller and robuster habit, thinner 

 leaflets with sharper and more open teeth, larger clusters of flowers, and 

 longer more reflexed sepals. From both gallica and centifolia it is distinct 

 in the more elongated fruit and in the absence of glands from the leaflet 

 margins. Crossed with forms of R. iridica the damask rose gave birth to 

 the race of "hybrid perpetual" roses which for so long held pride of place 

 in the family. 



Var. VARIEGATA, Keller. The York and Lancaster Rose. A vigorous 

 bush with rounded blossoms, the petals of which are striped in pink and 

 white. 



Var. TRIGINTIPETALA is one of the most important attar roses of the East. 



R. DUPONTII, Destglise. 



(R. nivea, Dupont ; R. moschata van nivea, Bot. Reg., t. 86l.) 



A robust shrub of loose but not climbing habit, 6 to 8 ft. high ; leaflets 

 usually five to each leaf, sometimes three or seven, bright green, i^ to 3 ins. 

 long, ovate or oval, finely toothed, downy beneath ; the common stalk and 

 stipules glandular and downy. Flowers white, shaded with pink, 2^ to 3 ins. 

 across, single, produced in clusters ; stalk and calyx downy. 



This beautiful rose is closely allied to R. moschata, and is believed to be 

 a hybrid between that species and damascena or gallica. It flowers in July, 

 and is one of the most noteworthy of the semi-wild types at that season, in 

 its large white blossoms. It was raised early in the nineteenth century by a 

 French grower of roses a Mr Dupont. 



R. Ec&, Aitchison. 



(R. xanthina, Lindlty ? ; Bot. Mag., t. 7666.) 



A shrub 3 to 4 ft. high, erect and rigid in a wild state, but with slender, 

 spreading branches under cultivation ; bristles none ; prickles crowded, up to 

 ^ in. long, broad at the base. Leaves I in. or less long, with usually seven 

 (occasionally five or nine) leaflets, which are oval or nearly round, in. or 

 so long, with proportionately large teeth, glandular beneath. Flowers 

 solitary, I in. across, rich buttercup yellow ; stalk and calyx smooth ; fruit 

 globose, ij- in. widfij crowned with the deflexed persistent sepals. 



