430 ROSA 



earliest of roses to flower usually by mid-May. It is allied to the Scotch 

 rose, but differs markedly in habit. It is perfectly hardy, free, but neat and 

 not rampant in growth. The spines vary much in character and are often 

 altogether absent from some portions of the shoots ; the largest are thin, 

 flattened, triangular, | in. long, reddish and translucent. 



R. HUMILIS, Marshall. PASTURE ROSE. 



A bush rarely more than 2 ft. high, the stems slender, sometimes 

 straggling, and armed with a pair of spines at the leaf-bases, and with more 

 or less numerous scattered bristles. Leaflets five to nine, thin, ovate or 

 narrowly oval, f to i^ ins. long, toothed except near the base, glossy green, 

 usually smooth, sometimes downy beneath. Flowers 2 to 2| ins. wide, pink, 

 produced often singly, sometimes a few in a cluster; flower-stalk and calyx 

 more or less glandular-hairy. Fruit globose, \ in. wide, red, with the sepals 

 fallen away when ripe. 



Native of Eastern N. America, especially in the mountains of the south- 

 eastern States, where in many districts it is very abundant. According to 

 Prof. Sargent, it is found growing in the shade of the forest often in rich soil. 

 It is allied to virginiana, but is far from being so sturdy and satisfactory a 

 plant under cultivation, besides being much dwarfer and its foliage more 

 sparse. It is sometimes confused with R. nitida, which it resembles in 

 dwarfness of habit, but its stems are never so copiously furnished with. bristly 

 prickles nor are its leaves so shiny. 



Var. TRILOBA has three-lobed petals (Garden and Forest, 1889, fig. 93). 



R. INDICA, Linnaus. CHINESE or MONTHLY ROSE. 



(R. chinensis, Jacquin.") 



What the wild plant really was from which were derived the China roses 

 imported to this country from near Canton in 1789, was for long not definitely 

 known. In 1864, Richard Oldham found a rose in Formosa which was of 

 the indica breed, but it was doubtfully wild. It was not until more than 

 twenty years later that Prof. A. Henry found in the glens near Ichang, Central 

 China, a rose with single flowers, apparently truly wild, which is R. indica. 

 Henry describes this rose as a large shrub climbing over rocks, and as 

 having generally deep red but occasionally pink flowers. This plant does 

 not appear to be at present in cultivation ; the following description 

 represents the plant introduced from Canton, and known as the "monthly 

 rose." It is probably R. indica, with a slight admixture of some other rose. 

 Stems green, armed with stout, scattered, flattened, hooked prickles. 

 Leaflets three or five, shining above, smooth on both surfaces, glaucous 

 beneath, i^ to 3 ins. long, ovate or oval, pointed, simply or occasionally 

 doubly toothed ; common stalk glandular and prickly. Flowers faintly 

 perfumed, borne in clusters, more or less double, red ; stalks long, erect, with 

 a few glandular bristles ; calyx-tube smooth ; sepals ovate, slightly or not at 

 all lobed. Fruit scarlet, f in. long, top-shaped. The true wild R. indica 

 differs from the above in having solitary flowers with five petals and shorter 

 stalks, and the glaucous colour of the leaves beneath is more pronounced. 



' Var. FRAGRANS (R. fragrans, Thory}. Tea-scented Rose. Introduced in 

 1810. A rose with a delightful fragrance like that of tea. This is the chief 

 source of the great race of " tea roses." The yellow tea-scented rose was 

 introduced from China in 1824, and is probably a parent of. the roses 

 typified in " Marechal Niel" and "Gloire de Dijon." 



Var. MINIMA. Fairy Rose. A dwarf form first introduced from Mauritius 

 by Sweet in 1810, but no doubt originally from China. The "fairy" roses of 



