0503 



ROSEBUSH 



Family: ROSACEAE. 



Reproductive system: ICOSANDRY, POLYGYNY. 



The CABBAGE ROSEBUSH, Rosa centifolia, Linn., has an upright stem armed with 

 thorns. The leaflets are large, oval, dentate, and are borne on thornless petioles. The 

 flowers have a bristly peduncle; the ovary is oval-shaped. 



For a number of years travelers have brought back many plants from all over the 

 world that are exceptional for their bright colors and extremely diverse forms. But none 

 of them has been able to present us with a shrub that combines as many charms as does 

 the rosebush. Its foliage, elegantly fashioned and with the most beautiful greenery, 

 rounds out into a bush as though it were a throne for the queen of the flowers. Poets of all 

 lands and in all ages have celebrated the rose. It has been the subject of the most 

 delightful metamorphoses and the loveliest of images. It's clear from books in Hebrew, 

 Persian, Greek, and Latin that the rose has charmed people of all nations with its 

 freshness and exquisite fragrance. Even its colors are thought to be of divine origin. It's 

 said that drops of the blood of the goddess of love fell upon a white rose to give it the 

 carnation color that enchants us so. Ah! - the poets say - whose blood other than that of 

 Venus could have colored the rose? 



In several religions roses were selected to adorn the altars of the gods. As long as 

 customs remained simple and the first fruits and most beautiful flowers were offered to 

 the Eternal, roses and ears of wheat spared the blood of animals. In Rome crowns of roses 

 were used in feasts and on solemn holidays. During funerals roses were mingled with 

 dreary cypress wood and were strewn on the graves of the departed 



