Rosa. ROSACEA. 187 



23. ROSA, Tourn. Rose. 

 Calyx-tubo pitcher-shapod or globoso, contracted at tlio tliroat : limh 5-partfid, 

 without bractlnts. Petals 5, spreading. Stamens many, on the tliickencd margin 

 of the silky disk, which nearly closes the mouth of the calyx. Ovaries several, 

 hairy, free and distinct : styles ventral, exserted : stigmas thickened : ovules soli- 

 tary, pendulous, Akenes bony, included in the enlarged fleshy red calyx-tube, 

 liadiclo superior. — Slirubs, usually prickly ; leaves pinnate, witli adnate stipules 

 and mostly serrate leaflets ; flowers corymbose or solitary, showy. 



A strongly marked genus, (lifTused throu^li the temperate and suhalpiiie regions of tlie whole 

 no;-thern hemisphere, but the species most aliundant in the Old World. " It comprises a consid- 

 erable number of true species ; but several of them arc of very ancient and universal cultivation, 

 and having been multiplied and hybridized with all the skill of modern horticulture, their more 

 or loss marked varieties and races arc now reckoned by thousands. Even in the wild state en- 

 deavors have been made to characterize so lai-ge a number of proposed species that the confusion 

 amongst them " is very great. Upwards of 2.50 species have been enumerated, reduced by modein 

 ftutlior-fl to about 30, and even when thus limited " specimens will occasionally bo found that tiio 

 n)oat exporionccd IratnniNt will boat n loss to determine" {Ikntham). The North American spocios 

 numlier about 10, of which perhaps but two are foinid in California. Son\o cultivated varieties 

 are occasionally found near the older settlements, escaped from gardens, and often incapable of 

 determination. 



1. R. Californica, Cham. ^ Schlecht. Erect, difl'usely braiiched, 2 to 8 feet 

 high, sparingly armed with rather stout usually recurved prickles : foliage and 

 inflorescence more or less tomentose : leaflets 2 or 3 pairs, ovate to oblong, acute or 

 obtuse, a half to an inch long: corymbs 1 - G-ilowored ; j)edicels often pubescent, 

 occasionally glandular : calyx-tubo globose or ovoid, mostly glabrous ; the lobna 

 tomentose, often glandular, foliaceously tipped : petals G to 9 lines long, rarely 

 larger : fruit globose, 4 or 5 lines in diameter, abruptly and narrowly constricted 

 below the calyx-lobes, which are spreading or erect. — Linmra, ii. 35. 



Var. ultramontana, Watson. Tomentose, but not glandular : calyx-tube and 

 pedicels glabrous : prickles straight and slender. — R. blanda, Watson, Bot. King 

 Exp. 91, and others. 



Common on stream-banks, from San Diego northward to Oregon ; the variety on the eastern 

 side of the Sierra Nevada, ranging to the Hocky Mountains. 



2. R. pisocarpa, (^iray. (Mosoly resendding R. Californira, from which it is 

 distinguished by its smaller globose fruit (about 3 lines in diiimeter), not constricted 

 below the closely refloxed calyx-lobes. — Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 382. 



Collected by JIall in Oregon, and probably extending into C(difoi'7iia. The characters by 

 which flowering specimens of the two species can be distinguished are not yet apparent. 



3. R. gymnocarpa, Nutt. Slender, 1 to 4 feet high, armed with often numer- 

 ous straight very slender prickles, or sometimes unarmed, glabrous : leaflets 2 to 4 

 pairs, a half to an inch long or often nuich less, the sorratures as well iis the petioles 

 and stipules more or less glandular : flowers solitary, rarely 2 or 3, small, rarely an 

 inch in diameter: calyx lobes scarcely appendaged, at length deciduo\is: fruit small, 

 ovato or pear-shaped, 3 to 5 lines long, very narrowly constric^ted at the sunnnit : 

 seeds few, smooth. — Torr. Sz Gray, Fl. i. 461 ; Torrey, Bot. IMex. Bound, t. 21. 



Var. pubescens, Watson. Leaves finely pubescent. 



On dry liills in the Const Ranges from San Diego northward, and to the British bound.ary ; the 

 vnrii'ty in tiio Sierra Nevada, at Clark's {A. Gray), and on Silver .Mouiitnin, at 0,000 feet alti- 

 tude. Brewer. 



R. niiANPA, Ait. (?) Another species is common in Oicgon extemliiig eastward to the Rocky 

 Mountains, resembling the eastern Ii. blnvrfd, ]>ut juobably not identical with it. It may Ix) 

 found in Northern California, and can be distinguished from the preceding species by its larger 

 flowers and fruit, the latter half an inch or more in diameter and not at all constricted at the 

 summit. It is more glabrous than R. Cah/oniicn , nw\ the prickh-s are stout, either straight or 

 recurved. 



