262 ROSACEJ^]. 



description is scarcely required : we need only say that it is a large and 

 very double rose, of a beautiful pink colour and of delicious odour. The 

 calyx is covered with short setae tipped with a fragrant, brown, viscid 

 secretion. The petals are thin and delicate (not thick and leathery as 

 in the Tea Roses), and turn brown on drying. 



In making rose water, it is the custom in some laboratories to strip 

 the petals from the calyx and to reject the latter; in others, the roses are 

 distilled entire, and so far as we have observed, with equally good 

 result. 



Chemical Composition — In a chemical point of view, the petals of 

 M. centifolia agree with those of R. gallica, even as to the colouring 

 matter. Enz in 1867 obtained from the former, malic and tartaric acid, 

 tannin, fat, resin, and sugar. 



In the distillation of large quantities of the flowers, a little essential 

 oil is obtained. It is a butyraceous substance, of weak rose-like, but 

 not very agreeable odour. It contains a large proportion of inodorous 

 stearoptene. For further particulars see remarks under the head Attar 

 of Rose. 



Uses — Cabbage roses are now scarcely employed in pharmacy for 

 any other purpose than making rose water. A syrup used to be pre- 

 pared from them, which was esteemed a mild laxative. 



OLEUM ROSiE. 

 Attar or Otto^ of Rose, Rose Oil; F. Essence de Roses; Q.Rosendl. 



Botanical Origin — Rosa damascena Miller, var. — This is the rose 

 cultivated in Turkey for the production of attar of rose ; it is a tall 

 shrub with semi-double, light-red (rarely white) flowers, of moderate 

 size, produced several on a branch, though not in clusters. Living 

 specimens sent by Baur ^ which flowered at Tubingen, were examined 

 by H. von Mohl and named as above.* 



R. damascena is unknown in a wild state. Koch * asserts that it 

 was brought in remote times to Southern Italy, whence it spread north- 

 ward. In the opinion of Baker* Rosa damascena is to be referred to 

 Rosa gallica (see p. 259 above) ; it must be granted that the Rose men- 

 tioned in foot-note 2, as grown with one of us, approaches very much to 

 Rosa gallica. 



History — Much as roses were prized by the ancients, no preparation 

 such as rose water or attar of rose was obtained from them. The liquid 

 that bore the name of Rose Oil (poSivov eXaiov) is stated byDioscorides" 

 to be a fatty oil in which roses have been steeped. In Europe a similar 

 preparation was in use down to the last century. Oleum, rosarum, 

 rosatum or rosaceum, signifying an infusion of roses in olive oil in the 

 London Pharmacopoeiu of 1721. 



1 Attar or Otto is from the word itr sig- father of Dr. Baur of Constantinople — D. H. 

 nifying perfume or odour ; the oil is called ^ Wiggers u. Husemaun, Jahresberkht 

 in Turkish Ilr-ydghi i.e. Perfume-oil, and for 1867. 350. 



also Ghyiil-ydghi i.e. Rose-oil. * Dendroloyie, i. (1869) 250. 



2 A living plant followed by excellent ** Journ. of Botany, Jan. 1876. 8. 

 herbarium specimens has been kindly given • Lib. i. c. 53. 



to me by Dr. Baur of Blaubeuren, the 



