^ The Scented Cjarden fj£ 



grown are the old blush Gallica, which, as Miss Jekyll 

 long ago emphasized, thrives in the poorest soils, and 

 will flourish even on dry banks. Of R. gallica officinalis 

 Andrews says, ' This large grand rose is both useful as 

 well as ornamental. The flowers are used in medicine 

 in preference to many other restoratives. By the 

 Arabian physicians they were held in great estimation 

 for their mild astringent and corroborant virtues. The 

 flowers cannot be too quickly dried, as slowly drying 

 them impairs both their colour and quality. They are 

 prepared as a conserve by an infusion of honey.' Another 

 lovely little variety is Tuscany, a small rose with semi- 

 double flowers of the deepest velvet and very fragrant. 

 The fragrant little Burgundy rose (R. burgundiaca syn. 

 parvifolia), according to Rivers, bears the same relation- 

 ship to the Gallicas as the de Meaux to the Provence rose. 

 This rose, sometimes known as R. parvi folia, was cul- 

 tivated at least as early as 1664, for it is figured in Taber- 

 naemontanus' Kreuterbuch of 1664. He calls it Rosa 

 provincialis minor. According to de Candolle, this rose 

 grew wild on the mountains near Dijon, but it is not 

 included by recent writers amongst the indigenous roses 

 of France. 



In the stained-glass windows of cathedrals it is nearly 

 always a variety of R. gallica which is depicted. Which 

 rose was the red rose of the House of Lancaster we do not 

 know for certain. Possibly it was one of the Provins 

 roses, but it is equally possible that it was a Provence 

 rose. The House of Lancaster adopted the badge of the 

 red rose in 1277. Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, son of 

 Henry III of England, was also Count of Champagne, 

 and was sent by the French king to Provence to avenge 

 120 



