THE STORY OF THE MODERN ROSE 9 



ety. Soon afterward Messrs. Chas. Turner, of Slough, 

 purchased the stock and changed the name to 

 Crimson Rambler. This Rose is generally as- 

 sumed to be a hybrid between Rosa multiflora and 

 some China Monthly Rose, but to me this view 

 is untenable. I do not think it has any China 

 Monthly blood in it at all. It has long been cul- 

 tivated in China and I consider that, like the Seven 

 Sisters Rose, it is a sport from the common, wild 

 pink-flowered China Rambler (R. multiflora, var. 

 cathayensis). These various Chinese Roses were 

 introduced from Chinese gardens where they have 

 been cultivated from time immemorial and their 

 wild prototypes were not discovered, much less intro- 

 duced, until comparatively recently. 



The true Rambler Rose (R. multiflora) is a native 

 of Japan and has single white flowers in large panicles. 

 This was sent to Lyons, France, from Japan in 1862, 

 by Monsieur Coignet, an engineer. The pink-flowered 

 Chinese variety has only just been dignified by a 

 distinctive name. In 1888, General Collett dis- 

 covered, in the Shan Hills of Upper Burmah, a Rose 

 with white, pale yellow, or buff flowers six inches 

 across and this was named Rosa gigantea. He intro- 

 duced it into Europe and it thrives wonderfully on the 

 Riviera but in England it flowers sparingly. This 



