ON ROSES 311 



is, if a Rose at all, the wild Dog Rose, Rosa canina* But 

 may he not have meant a flower attacked by cater- 

 pillars ? Note in the ninety-fifth Sonnet 



" How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame 

 Which, like a canker in the fragrant Rose, 

 Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name." 



Rose-lovers will read with interest the suggestion of 

 Pliny the Elder that the old name for England, Albion, 

 originated in the abundance of white Roses that grew 

 wild in it. The botanist has his Rosa alba, but that is not 

 a native. The white corn Rose, with its yellow stamens, 

 Rosa arvensiSy is. 



The Austrian Brier. With a brief word of explanation 

 as to some other of the old Roses whose names crop up 

 from time to time, we must pass on to modern varieties 

 and culture. The reader sometimes hears of the Austrian 

 Brier. This is the Rosa lutea of botanists, has yellow 

 flowers in June, and grows about three feet high. 



Variegated Roses. The variegated Rose, " Quatre 

 Saisons " of the French, red and white, is the York and 

 Lancaster Rose, a variety of Rosa damascena. Shake- 

 speare may have known of this variety when he wrote in 

 the " Sonnets " 



" I have seen Roses damask'd, red and white, 

 But no such Roses see I in her cheeks." 



There is another variegated Rose, the Rosamundi 

 or Gloria Mundi (Rosa Gallica versicolor). This was 

 mentioned by Ray, but not by Parkinson or Gerard. 

 The Macartney Rose is Rosa bracteata, a dwarf species, 

 bearing white flowers in July. The Evergreen Rose is 

 Rosa sempervzrenSy a white rambler, a native of Southern 

 Europe, and included in the London Catalogues a wilding 

 in Great Britain. Rosa Wichuraiana is a Japanese species, 



