j 64 Rosacecz Rosa. 



with slender branches, armed here and there with curved 

 prickles. Leaves shining, strongly tinted with dark purple, 



composed of 3 to 5 

 ovate-lanceolate den- 

 tate leaflets. Flowers 

 solitary at the ex- 

 tremities of the 

 branches, double or 

 semi-double, deep 

 crimson, almost scent- 

 less. The calyx-tube 

 is shortly obovoid and 

 glabrous, and the re- 

 curved calyx-leaves 

 are deciduous. Ac- 

 cording to Dr. Lindley 

 this is the only Eose 

 that loses its stamens 

 at the same time as 

 the petals, a character 

 which distinguishes it 



Fig. 89. Bengal Eose. (\ rtat. size.) 



from the Tea Eose ; 



but a still greater difference pointed out by that eminent 

 botanist is the smaller number (about fifteen) of ovaries in 

 each flower of the typical Bengal Eose, whilst the Tea Eose 

 has from forty to fifty. The first Bengal Eose appears to have 

 been introduced into England about the year 1771, by whom 

 it is uncertain ; but it is averred that an Englishman named 

 Ker brought it from Canton in 1780, and that another Eng- 

 lishman, Slater, introduced a second variety from the same 

 country about the same time. Hence the name China Eose, 

 R. Chinensis, given to it by some authors, whilst others con- 

 sider it to be a mere variety of R. Indica. Innumerable 

 varieties are referred to this species by horticulturists. 



It is scarcely possible to distinguish specifically the Bourbon 

 Eose, R. Borbonica (fig. 90), from R. Indica, which differs 

 only in its larger stature, the presence of bristles intermixed 

 with the spines on the branches and petioles, leaves of 5 to 7 

 leaflets, and flowers in corymbs 3 to 7 on the same peduncle. It 

 is very probable that it is not really indigenous in the Isle of 

 Bourbon, but imported thither from China or India. Its in- 



