§& The Old lapses j% 



variety of R. gallica is called Rosa Mundi. Some of the 

 older writers, notably Crepin, regarded the Provins rose 

 and its hybrids as members of the Gallica family. Of the 

 relationship of the Provins rose to the Provence rose Miss 

 Wilmott says : ' Botanists are not yet agreed upon the 

 precise relationship of these two roses and their exact 

 position still remains a vexed question.' The two names 

 are certainly most confusing. The name of the Provins 

 rose is supposed to have arisen from the picturesque legend 

 related by Loiseleur-Deslongchamps {La Rose, 1844), 

 that these roses were brought from Syria by Thibaut le 

 Chansonnier, who cultivated them in his garden at 

 Provins, the old capital of La Brie. Naturally the in- 

 habitants of Provins clung to this legend, and the cultiva- 

 tion of roses was a great source of income to their district. 

 In 1807 the inhabitants petitioned the Minister of the 

 Interior to grant them the privilege of supplying the 

 roses required by the military hospitals and pharmacies. 

 Many of the varieties were striped. Striped roses were 

 highly esteemed in France during the first half of the 

 nineteenth century. Perle des Panachees, one of the 

 loveliest, is, fortunately, still with us, and so is Oeillet 

 Parfait. William Paul in his Rose Garden (1848) says this 

 rose was raised at Angers, and introduced in 1845. R. 

 provincialis bullata, the knobby-leaved Provins rose, was 

 formerly universally grown. I have not seen it for many 

 years. Its curious foliage had an attraction of its own, 

 and the flowers were deliciously fragrant. Andrews says 

 this rose was imported from Holland in 1815. Redoute 

 describes it as a member of the Provence family, and says 

 it was raised by Dupont. 



The best known varieties of the Gallica family now 



119 



