172 ROSA CAROLINA. SWAMP ROSE. 



emblem of dangerous love in the language of flowers. In gen- 

 eral character, our species approaches very near to the R. ciu- 

 namomea, or Cinnamon Rose of Europe, of which there is a 

 thornless variety, and the Swamp Rose is also frequently found 

 very sparingly armed. In that interesting book entitled 

 " Legends of the Rose," we are, indeed, told that all Roses were 

 originally thornless, and the flower itself is thus made to explain 

 the existence of the thorns : — 



" Young Love, rambling through the wood, 

 Found me in my solitude, 

 Bright with dew and freshly blown, 

 And trembling to the zephyr's sighs ; 

 But as he stooped to gaze upon 

 The living gem with raptured eyes, 

 It chanced a bee was busy there, 

 Searching for its fragrant fare ; 

 And Cupid, stooping too, to sip, 

 The angry insect stung his lip, 

 And gushing from the ambrosial cell, 

 One bright drop on my bosom fell. 



Weeping to his mother, he 

 Told the tale of treachery ; 

 And she, her vengeful boy to please, 

 Strung his bow with captive bees ; 

 But placed upon my slender stem, 

 The poisoned stings she plucked from them, 

 And none, since that eventful morn, 

 Have found the flowers without a thorn." 



The Swamp Rose is at home along the seaboard, from Maine 

 to Florida, but beyond the Mississippi it occurs only in Iowa 

 and in the eastern part of Nebraska, and as far as we know, it 

 has never yet been found either directly north or south of these 

 states. 



Explanation of the Plate. — i. Flowering branch from a Massachusetts specimen gath- 

 ered toward the end of June. — 2. Fruit from Pennsylvania in October. 



