Rosa 



Rosa. 



' puniceis . . . rosetis ' (Ec. v. 17). 



' mixta rubent ubi lilia multa | alba rosa ' (Ae. xii. 69). 



'biferi . . . rosaria Paesti ' (Ge. iv. 119). 



Virgil was probably acquainted with three exotic 

 and several native species of the rose, and the 

 foreigners had already broken into varieties and 

 produced double or at least semi-double flowers. 



The cabbage or Provence rose (Rosa centifolia) 

 has a specific name, which Linnaeus took from 

 Pliny, and which refers to the double flower, which 

 is a product of cultivation. Mr. Pemberton calls 

 this rose a native of the south of France, but this 

 statement seems to be without warrant, and the 

 higher authority of Nicholson is doubtless right in 

 assigning to it an Asiatic home. Travellers still find 

 it in the Caucasas, from whence it came to Greece. 

 In Greece it is said to have naturalized itself, but 

 not so in Italy. Theophrastus knew the flower in 

 its single state, for he says that it has a flower within 

 a flower, the inner being in fact the stamens and 

 pistils. He compares its colour with the oleander 

 and the rosy petal-tips of the so-called Egyptian 

 bean of Pythagoras. It may be distinguished from 

 the damask rose by its spreading sepals and less 

 rigid leaves. From it descend our cabbage and 

 moss roses. 



Of the damask rose (R. Damascena) Mr. Pem- 

 berton remarks that it was first brought to the 

 notice of Europeans by the Crusaders, but there 



in 



