8 THE MOSS HOSE. 



THE MOSS EOSE. 



(ROSA CENTIFOLIA MUSCOSA.) 



Rosier Cent Feuilles Mousseuse. 



THE Moss Rose, or Mossy Provence Rose, is 

 most probably an accidental sport or seminal 

 variety of the common Provence Rose, as the Old 

 Double Moss Rose, which was introduced to this 

 country from Holland in 1596, is the only one 

 mentioned by our early writers on gardening. If 

 it had any claims to be ranked as a botanical 

 species,* the Single-flowering Moss Rose would 

 have been the first known and described ; but 

 the Single Moss, as compared with the Double, is 

 a new variety. Some few years since a traveller 

 in Portugal mentioned that the Moss Rose grew 

 wild in the neighbourhood of Cintra; but, most 

 likely, the plants were stragglers from some 

 garden, as I have never seen this assertion pro- 

 perly authenticated. The origin of the Double 

 Moss Rose, like that of the Old Double Yellow 

 Rose (Rosa siilphurea), is therefore left to con- 

 jecture ; for gardeners in old times did not pub- 

 lish 'to the world the result of their operations and 

 discoveries. As regards the Moss Rose I regret 

 this, for it would be very interesting to know 



* Miller says, with a most remarkable simplicity, that he 

 thinks it must be a distinct species, as it is so much more diffi- 

 cult of propagation than the common Provence Rose. 



