ON ROSES 307 



of the species, including wildings and modern varieties. 

 The creamy- white trailing Rose, with flowers five- 

 petalled, about two inches across, which rambles over 

 the hedges in June, is Rosa arvensis, or repens, and is 

 illustrated in the Botanical Magazine, t. 2054. This is 

 the Ayrshire Rose. A form (perhaps double) of arvensis 

 is supposed to be none other than the White Rose of 

 York, which Plantagenet gathered in the Temple Gardens 

 with the following appeal 



" Let him that is a true born gentleman, 

 And stands upon the honour of his birth, 

 If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, 

 From off this brier pluck a white Rose with me." 



The Red Rose which Somerset plucked to point his 

 reply 



" Let him that is no coward and no flatterer, 

 But dare maintain the party of the truth, 

 Pluck a red Rose from off this thorn with me," 



could hardly be other than Rosa centifolia, the sweet 

 old pink Cabbage Rose. A variety of this called muscosa 

 is the original Moss Rose. 



The Ayrshire must not be confounded with the 

 Scotch Rose. The latter, Rosa spinosissima, sometimes 

 called the Burnet-leaved Rose, blooms in May, and may 

 be found wild on the heaths in Scotland, Ireland, and 

 the Channel Islands. It has creamy flowers an inch 

 and a quarter across, tinted with pink ; the buds are 

 pink. The Dog Rose, Rosa canina, with its pink or 

 other-coloured flowers (it is a variable plant, and there 

 are many forms) is a familiar object in the hedges in 

 June, as are its red fruits in the autumn. The downy- 

 leaved Rose of the hedgerows, with pink flowers in 

 June, is Rosa villosa, and it has scarlet fruits. The true 



