ROSA MULTIFLORA-JAPAN ROSE, 



CLASS, ICOSANDRIA ; ORDER, POLYGNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, ROSACES. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx pitcher shaped, five-cleft, fleshy, contracted 

 at the neck. Petals five. Seeds very many, hispid and affixed to 

 the inner side of the calyx. SPEC. CHAR. Germs ovate. Germs 

 and peduncles unarmed, villose. Stem and petioles prickly. Branches 

 generally purple, Leaflets ovate. Flowers small and panicled. 



There are varieties of this plant depending on the color and 

 size of the flower, whether it be single or double, and the shape of 

 the leaf. In the groves and gardens of Japan and often in China, 

 where they are as much admired as in their own country, they at- 

 tain the magnitude of trees. Its flowers hang in irregular bunches 

 with subdivided branches ; this together with its hue will always 

 ensure it a notice. 



Belonging eminently to the ornamental instead of the useful, 

 the rose tribe from time immemorial has received the homage of 

 song, and been so long noticed and described that its native place 

 is forgotten. They are of every shade and color. It sprang from 

 the tears of Venus as she wept for Adonis, and was originally white 

 and inodorous, but became colored and scented by a bowl of nectar 

 staining it, which Cupid accidentally overthrew in Olympus. 



A golden rose was formerly considered so honorable, that none 

 but kings and princes were thought worthy either to give or receive 



