BOSACEJa. 339 



The Roses have usually very beautiful flowers, white, yellow, pink, 

 or red, solitary or grouped in terminal cymes.' Numerous species 

 of this genus have been described,- and their number is still daily 

 increasing. While some writers enumerate three liundred, others 

 will only admit one tenth of that number as distinct autonomous 

 specific types. Most of them are cultivated in all countries, and 

 their cultivation has produced numerous varieties, and numberless 

 forms that are more or less monstrous. The wild species are found 

 in all the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, but are 

 more numerous in the Old World than in the New. 



II. AaEIMONY SERIES. 



The Agrimonies' (Fr., Aigremoines — figs. 379-387) have regular 

 hermaphrodite flowers, in general structure closely recalling those of 

 the Roses, but with a great reduction in the number of most of the 

 parts. Thus it often happens that on the borders of the sac which 

 represents their floral receptacle^ we only find three whorls of five 

 pieces each, viz., five free valvate sepals,' five alternating imbri- 



' One flower (the oldest) terminates the 

 branch, and at variable distances below it are 

 alternate leaves or bracts, axillary to which are 

 flowers whose pedicels may again be similarly 

 ramified. Usu;illy the narrow cylindrical part 

 of the pedicel is continuous with the dilatation 

 which forms the floral receptacle. But in some 

 Asiatic species, as H. microphylla, hracteata, 

 involucrata, &c., these two parts are separated 

 by an articulation, near which may be inserted 

 bracts to form an involucre, or rather a calycle. 



' MoNARD., de Sosa, 1561. — Andrews, 

 Roses, 1805-28. — Tnou. & Red., les Hoses, 

 1817-24. — De Peonville, Mon. du. (]. Easier, 

 1821-.— Tkattin., Bosac. Monog., 1823, 21.— 

 Desp., Roset. Gallic, 1828. — LoiSEL., Ros., 

 1846. — LiNDL., Rosai: Monogr., 1820. — 

 Walle., Ros. Gen. Hist. Sua:, 1828 (see Pritz., 

 Thesaur., 446).— DC, Prodr., ii. 597-625 (146 

 csp.).— WionT, Icon., t. 38, 324.— Wall., PI. 

 As. Rat:, t. 117.— Benth., Ft. HongJc., 106.— 

 ToER. & (iR., Fl. N. Amer., i. 457. — A. Gray, 

 Man. of Rot., ed. 5, 158 — Chapm., Fl. of S. 

 Uiut.-States, 125.— Gren.& Godr., Fl. de Fr., 

 i. 551. — Desegl., Ess. sur 105 Esp. de Ros., 

 ]865.— Walp., Rep., ii. 11 ; v. 649; Am,., i. 



272, 971 ; ii. 465; iii. 854; iv. 654.— Seringe 

 has divided the genus into four sections. The 

 grouping he published in the Prodromus has since 

 been more or less modified (see Mert. & Koch., 

 RcEHL., Deutsch. FL, iii. — Geschwixd, Die 

 Hiihrid. und Sceml. d. Rosen, 1863, 64.) 



■^ Agrimonia T., Jh?/., 301, t. 155. — L., Gen., 

 607.— J., Gen., 336.— GJERTX., Fruct., i. 347, 

 t. 73.— Lamk., Diet., i. 62 ; Snppl., i. 262 ; ///., 

 t. 409.— Spach, Suit, a Buffon, i. 482.— DC, 

 Prodr., ii. 587.— Endl., Gtn., n. 6368.— Pater, 

 Organog., 504, t. ci.— B. H., Gen., 622, n. 53. 



•* Its throat is contracted, as in most of the 

 Roses. Indeed, the two genera are as near to- 

 gether as possible in the general organization of 

 their flowers. 



* Some authors have considered as the pieces 

 of a calycle five prickles, tolerably like those 

 covering the superior portion of the receptacle, 

 but broader and more bract-like at the base, 

 which usually alternate pretty regularly with 

 the pieces of the calyx. The sepals may after 

 anthesis become imbricated and closely conni- 

 vent; they even persist around the ripe fruit 

 (figs. 383, 381). 



