CLASSIFICATION OF THE ROSE. 41 



The importance of this discovery we cannot well estimate. It is, as it were, 

 a landmark in botany, and connects us by another floral link with the mother 

 country. 



Although Mr. Dawson can hardly be said to have been the original dis- 

 coverer, as the existence of the plant was known to others, yet to him belongs 

 all the credit, great as it is, of appreciating the discovery, and of first directing 

 the attention of botanists to the existence of the plant in this country. 



THE GARDEN CLASSIFICATION OF THE ROSE. 



BY FRANCIS PARKMAN. 



The botanical classification of the Rose is a perplexity to botanists. Its 

 garden classification — quite another matter — is no less a source of embarrass- 

 ment to its amateur, not to say professional, cultivator. To many, indeed, its 

 entire nomenclature is a labyrinth of confusion, and some have gone to the 

 length of proposing to abolish distinctions which in their eyes seem arbitrary 

 or fanciful. These distinctions, however, are founded in nature, though the 

 superstructure built upon her is sometimes flimsy enough to justify the impa- 

 tience of its assailants. The chief difficulty arises from the extent to which 

 the hybridization of the diflferent varieties of the rose has been carried, and the 

 vast entanglement of combinations which has resulted. Out of a propensity 

 to classify Avhere, in the nature of things, precise classification is impossible, 

 has arisen the equivocal and shadowy character of many of the nominal dis- 

 tinctions. 



Omitting less important divisions, the following are the groups into which 

 cultivated roses are ordinarily divided : the *Provence, the *Moss, the *French, 

 the Hybrid China, the Hybrid Bourbon, the *Damask, the *Alba, the *Austrian 

 Brier, the *Sweet Brier, the *Scotch, the *Double Yellow, the *Ayrshire, the 

 *Sempervirens, the *Multiflora, the *Boursault, the *Banksia, the *Prairie. 

 These bloom once in the season. The following are perpetual or remoji/an<; 

 the *China, the *Tea, the Bourbon, the Hybrid Perpetual, the Perpetual Moss, 

 the *Damask Perpetual, the Noisette, the *Musk, the *Macartney, the *Micro- 

 phylla. 



Some of the above are marked Avith a star * ; these are roses of pure blood. 

 The rest are roses of mixed or hybrid origin. By the former are meant those 

 which have sprung, without intermixture, from the wild roses which grew 

 naturally in various parts of the world, and which are the only roses of which 

 the botanical classifier takes cognizance. Many of them are of great beauty, 

 and would be highly prized for ornamental uses were they not eclipsed by the 

 more splendid double varieties, which the industry of the florist has developed 



