ROSE. 181 



garden in Leydcn, in 1727. The learned 

 Doctor not only corresponded with many 

 botanical persons in this country, but visited 

 England, and became a member of the Royal 

 Society of London. It is therefore most 

 likely that on its first appearance in this 

 country, a plant would be forwarded to Ley- 

 den, for the inspection of a person that all 

 Europe was then regarding as the star of the 

 age. 



Although the moss rose appears to be a 

 plant of so short an existence, its birth-place 

 is not satisfactorily known ; but from all the 

 accounts we can collect of its register, it ap- 

 pears to be a fortuitous child of England, as 

 we have numerous accounts of its having 

 been exported, but none of its importation 

 into this island, nor has it been discovered 

 elsewhere, excepting in a state of cultivation. 

 Messrs. Lee and Kennedy, of Hammersmith, 

 have within these last few years produced a 

 perfectly single moss rose, which they pro- 

 nounce to be only a variety of the common 

 Provins rose. We must therefore conclude 

 that the moss-like pubescence on the calyx 

 and young branches, is owing to some acci- 

 dental circumstance which this climate pro- 

 duces, as we are told that this variety loses 

 its mossiness, almost immediately when 



n 3 



