442 ROSA 



large deeply lobed sepals. It was introduced to cultivation by Messrs Paul 

 of Cheshunt, who inform me that it is quite hardy. The specific name refers 

 to its being cultivated in the vicinity of churches in Abyssinia. 



R. SERICEA, Lindley. 



A large spreading bush, 10 to 12 ft. high and more in diameter, with 

 gracefully arching branches and abundant leafage. The species shows great 

 variation in the armature of its stems and in the downiness or otherwise of its 

 leaves, but in the typical form the stems are armed with a pair of upwardly 

 curved prickles at the base of each leaf-stalk, and they are further furnished 

 with numerous glandular bristles. Leaves from 2 to 4 ins. long, composed 

 of from seven to eleven leaflets, downy beneath ; leaflets J- to I in. long, 

 obovate, rounded and toothed towards the apex, tapering and entire 

 towards the base. Flowers creamy white, i^ to 2 ins. across, with nearly 

 always four petals arranged like a Maltese cross ; sepals f in. long, downy. 

 Fruit pear-shaped or roundish. \ in. wide, bright red, with persistent 

 sepals. 



Native of N. India, and first observed on Gossan Than, a mountain in 

 Nepal. In later years it has been found to extend many hundreds of miles 

 along the Himalaya, reaching Bhotan and Upper Burmah in the east. The 

 great distinctive character of R. sericea is the number of the petals, but this 

 is not invariably four ; towards the end of the flowering season odd flowers 

 may frequently be seen with five. It is one of the earliest roses to blossom 

 out-of-doors. I have noted them as early as May I2th. 



In Mr de Vilmorin's collection at Les Barres, in France, there is a great 

 assemblage of roses of the sericea group, and it was there that the most 

 remarkable of them all var. pteracantha was first raised. The points 

 of variation are to be found in the armature and colour of the stems, 

 the degree of pubescence on the leaves, the number and shape of the 

 leaflets, the colour and size of the spines and fruits. The colour of the 

 young wood and spines is sometimes rich red, and the fruits, normally bright 

 red, are, as I have be"en informed by Mr de Vilmorin, yellow in the forms 

 from Szechuen. In one of Wilson's introductions the leaves have as many as 

 seventeen leaflets, of a size and shape suggesting those of the mountain ash. 



Two varieties named by the late Mr Franchet are : 



Var. DENUDATA. Stems unarmed; leaves quite smooth. 



Var. PiERACANTHA (Bot. Mag., t. 8218). A shrub of open, slender habit, 

 eventually as large as the type. Stems covered when young with blood red, 

 translucent spines which are sometimes i| ins. wide at the base, \ to '\ in. 

 deep, flat and thin, contracting abruptly to a sharp point. The second year 

 they become grey and woody. This remarkable plant is a native of W. 

 China, but a very similar one has been collected by Sir Geo. Watt in 

 Manipur. These richly coloured, enormous spines, add a new attraction to 

 wild roses. The flowers, perhaps, are smaller, and the leaflets are nine to 

 thirteen on each leaf. 



[Note, 2nd Edition. In Plants Wilsoniana, Vol. ii., p. 331, Messrs Rehder 

 and Wilson place all those roses which were previously considered Chinese 

 forms of R. sericea by Franchet and Focke under R. omeiensis. I hey do not 

 consider that the true R. seticea reaches China, although they seem somewhat 

 doubtful about ihe standing of certain forms found in Yunnan, which, in 

 number of leaflets at least, resemble the Himalayan R. sericea. Variable as 

 the Chinese forms of this rose are, they rec-'gnise only two bv name, viz., 

 typical R. omeiensis and the var. pteracantha above noted. R. omeiensis 

 differs from R. sericea in the greater number of leaflets and in the thickened, 

 fleshy footstalk of the fruit.] 



