THE BOOK OP ROSES. 53 



Rosa laxa of botanists, bear no fruit, and may 

 consequently be regarded as a degraded or 

 mutilated variety. 



OF THE STYLES. When a rose becomes dou- 

 ble, it is by the conversion of its stamens and 

 pistils into petals. On the number of these, 

 therefore,Sio classification can be grounded ; as 

 many kinds of .roses have none, such as the 

 Hundred-leaved, the Burgundy rose, and other 

 very-double varieties. The pubescence of the 

 styles is as little to be relied on ; some kinds, 

 such as the Dog rose, becoming hairy in northern 

 climates, while towards the south the styles 

 are perfectly smooth. 



The cohesion of the styles must not be con- 

 sidered as affording a specific character, since 

 they are sometimes detached, as in the Noisette 

 rose ; while from the seeds of the Noisette, a 

 Musk rose is sometimes produced in which they 

 are joined together. One distinct species of 

 rose will no more produce another species, than 

 a woman will bring forth a fawn, but merely a 

 variety of its own species; and the Musk 

 rose, of which the styles are joined together, 

 furnishes many varieties in which they are de- 

 tache'd; as the half-double, and double Muscade 

 roses, (of Vibert,) and the Princess of Nassau, 

 (of Laffay.) 



Sometimes the styles are salient above the 

 calyx, and sometimes comprised within it, in 

 the same species of rose. 



