106 ROSACEiE. [Spiraa. 



Mauritius specimens seen in herbaria are evidently from the botanic garden of that island, 

 having been introduced from the Calcutta garden. It is very characteristically described 

 both by Loureiro and by Poiret, but Cambessedes in his monograph gave a figure of a plant 

 quite different in foliage and iufloi-escence, Avhence Seringe took his diagnoses for De Candolle's 

 Prodromus. It is this erroneous character that misled Lindley as to the supposed non- 

 identity of the plant with Poiret's and Loui-eiro's, and induced him to describe it as new. 



4. ROSA, Linn. 



Calyx-tube globular or ovoid, enclosing the ovaiy, contracted towards the 

 top ; the limb divided into 5 segments, often unequal and sometimes lobed. 

 Petals 5. Stamens numerous. Ovary of several distinct cai'pels, enclosed in 

 the calyx-tube, with 1 suspended ovule in each ; the styles protmding from the 

 tube, and occasionally united. When in fmit the cai-pels become dry, hairy, 

 1 -seeded achenes, enclosed in the more or less succulent calyx-tube, and some- 

 times surrounded by pulp, the whole forming a rather dry red or black beriy. 

 Erect, scrambling, or climbing shrubs, more or less prickly. Leaves pinnate. 

 Stipules leafy, adhering to the petiole. Flowers showy, terminal, either solitary 

 or in small corymbs or panicles. 



A beautiful genus, widely diffused over the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, 

 but scarcely penetrating into the tropics, except in mountain districts. 



Flowers solitary. Leaflets 3 \. R. sinica. 



Flowers several, in corymbs. Leaflets 7 or 5. 



Flowers white, middle sized. Calyx-segments narrow, one or more 



usually lobed 2. 72. moschata. 



Flowers small, pink. Calyx-segments short, entire 3. iZ. muHiflora. 



1. R. sinica^ Alt. Hort. Kew. ed. 2; L'lndl. Monogr. and Bot. Reg. 

 t. 1922. Stems climbing, glabrous, as well as the leaves, with a few distant 

 hooked prickles. Leaflets always 3 in the wild specimens, ovate, stalked, 

 slightly serrate, the terminal one 1 to li in. long, cuneate or rounded at the 

 base, the lateral ones rather smaller. Flowers solitary at the ends of the 

 lateral shoots, large, and of a pure white. Peduncles and ovaries thickly 

 covered with straight prickles or bristles. Calyx-lobes downy or cottony, 

 with long points, all or some of them expanding into small oblong leafy tips. 

 Fruit globular. — R. nivea, DC. Prod. ii. 599. 



Hongkong, Earlcmd. Appears to be confined to China. Alton's name would have the 

 priority over De Candolle's, even should it be shown that he was mistaken in identifying it 

 with the R. sinica of Linnaeus ; for if the latter is not this plant, it merges in his R. rndica. 

 Linnreus' character applies better to the present species. The specimen in his herbarium 

 is a poor fragment from Jacquin, and much resembling the figure in that author's ' Observa- 

 tiones,' and apparently a garden specimen of R. iudica in a starved state. 



2. R. moschata, Mill. ; DC. Prod. ii. 598 ; Bot. Reg. i(. 829. An erect 

 or half-climbing tall-gromng shrub, glabrous or pubescent on the young shoots 

 and under side of the leaves, with a few stout recm'ved prickles. Leaflets 5 

 or 7, nearly sessile, oblong acuminate acute, and often 1|^ to 2 in. long in the 

 north Indian specimens ; much shorter, ovate, obtuse or almost orbicidar in 

 the Hongkong one. Flowers white, not large, in terminal corymbs. Pedun- 

 cles I to 1 in. long, slender, usually pubescent or sometimes glandular, but 

 without bristles or prickles. Ovary small, ovoid. Calyx-lobes naiTOw, with 

 long points, and occasionally with 1 or 2 lateral lobes on one or both sides. — 

 R. Brunonis, Lindl. ; DC. 1. c. 



