132 ROSES. 



as well as the leaves have a very delightful scent, 

 The Provins, and Damask roses, provincia'lis and 

 damasce'na, are the most fragrant of the genus 

 Ro'sa. There are two varieties of the damasce'na 

 which blossom more than once a year; one called 

 the Monthly rose, the other the rose of Paestum, 

 which has been celebrated by Latin poets for blos- 

 soming twice a year. The Moss rose, Ro'sa mus- 

 co'sa, has its name from the substance like moss, 

 with which the flower-stems and calyx are covered; 

 it is, in fact, a collection of glands, containing a 

 resinous and fragrant fluid. 



The Rose is a favourite plant in every country 

 where it is found ; but it is remarkable that no 

 roses have ever been met with in the southern 

 hemisphere. All the species at present known 

 grow between the seventieth and twentieth degrees 

 of northern latitude; except the Ro'sa Montezu'ma 

 of Mexico, which is found in the nineteenth de- 

 gree, at an elevation of nearly ten thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. Asia, which may be 

 called the land of roses, produces about forty 

 species ; Europe has twenty-five species ; of which 

 five are common to Asia and Europe : and two 

 species are peculiar to Africa. Among the ancients, 

 particularly the Egyptians', roses were considered as 

 symbols of silence ; for which reason, the goddess 

 Isis, and her son Harpocrates, who was the god of 

 silence, were crowned with chaplets of these flowers. 



