Cf)s Ereagurg of iSatang. 



990 



carpels enclosed in the calyx-tube and ad- 

 hering to it by their back. There remain 

 in the Rosacea thus reduced a large num- 

 ber of genera and species, chiefly abundant 

 in temperate regions, extending into the 

 Arctic. Zone as well as ascending to the 

 highest elevations, and more sparingly 

 dispersed within the tropics. They are 

 herbs or shrubs, very rarely trees, with 

 alternate often divided leaves accompa- 

 nied by stipules, and flowers almost always 

 terminal, solitary or in cymes or panicles ; 

 and are distinguished from the above- 

 mentioned smaller orders by their carpels, 

 which when ripe become achenes, 01 

 rarely berries follicles or capsules. They 

 are divided into six distinct tribes— San- 

 guisorbece : Herbs or low shrubs, with small 

 flowers without petals, and solitary one- 

 seeded carpels, enclosed when ripe in the 

 hardened tube of the calyx. These com- 

 prise eleven or twelve genera, including 

 Alchemilla, Poterium, and Sanguisorba re- 

 presented in Europe, the South American 

 and Antarctic Accena, and the South Afri- 

 can Cliffortia. Rosece proper : with a fleshy 

 calyx-tube closing over the one-seeded 

 carpels, limited to the Linnasan genus Rosa. 

 Potentillece : Herbs or weak shrubs, with a 

 herbaceous calyx and numerous achenes 

 in a head. They comprise about twenty 

 genera, of which the most important are 

 Rubus, Potentilla, Fragaria, Geum, Dryas, 

 and Agrimonia. Spira>&, or Spircea and a 

 few small genera closely allied to it, with 

 several-seeded carpels opening like folli- 

 cles. Quillaiw. Three or four South Ame- 

 rican genera witli a capsular fruit. Neura- 

 dece : South European or African herbs 

 having ten carpels in a ring, with a single 

 pendulous seed in each. 



ROSA. The genus which gives name to 

 the large and important order Rosacea is 

 distinguished by the following characters : 

 — Leaves with stipules attached to the leaf- 

 stalk ; petals Ave; stamens and styles 

 numerous ; seeds (achenesl numerous, en- 

 closed within but not adhering to the 

 fleshy calyx-tube, which is contracted at 

 the orifice. Throughout the civilised 

 world undisputed precedence among 

 flowers has been conceded to the Rose in 

 all ages and by universal consent. In the 

 sacred writings, by classical authors, by 

 the poets of all countries, including our 

 own from Chaucer downwards, this Queen 

 of Flowers is the epitome of beauty and 

 fragrance, the emblem of refined sensual 

 enjoyment. It has been the subject of 

 scientific monographs and of floricultural 

 disquisitions ; and its cultivation affords 

 employment to hundreds of human beings, 

 perhaps thousands, if there be taken into 

 calculation the number of persons engaged 

 in the manufacture of rosewater and 

 attar. The species which has been culti- 

 vated from the highest antiquity is sup- 

 posed to be R. centifolia, the Cabbage or 

 Provence Rose, a flower which possesses in 

 an eminent degree the admirable qualities 

 of the tribe. 



The patient skill of cultivators has for- 



tunately been successful in depriving the 

 Rose of one of its attributes— it has 

 ceased to be an emblem of summer. By 

 making careful selections of species and 

 rearing hybrids, varieties deservedly 

 called Perpetual have been obtained, and 

 whoever will may now without difficulty 

 crown himself with roses at any season. 

 A bare enumeration of the groups in 

 which cultivated roses are arranged by 

 growers would occupy too much of our 

 space; but the reader may be interested 

 in knowing that the number of wild spe- 

 cies described by botanists exceeds two 

 hundred, to which may be added at least 

 as many more subspecies or varieties ; 

 while the list of garden varieties, mostly 

 with double flowers, numbers thousands, 

 and is every year receiving fresh additions. 

 The majority of these are raised on the 

 Continent, though not a few held in high 

 estimation are the production of home 

 rosetums. 



From the Burnet Rose, R. spinosissima, 

 a native of Britain, as well as many parts 

 of the Continent, all the numerous varie- 

 ties of the Scotch Rose have been derived. 

 R. rubiginosa and R. micrantha, indigenous 

 species, are well known under the name of 

 Sweet-brier. R. canina, with its varieties, 

 is the common Dog-rose of our hedges. R. 

 arvensis is the trailing white scentless 

 rose so common in hedges and the borders 

 of fields. R. tomentosa and R. villosa 

 are the species, with downy leaves and 

 large deep red blossoms, which love to find 

 their way through hedge-bushes provok- 

 ingly beyond the reach of the collector of 

 wild flowers. The task of discriminating 

 the species of this large genus is so diffi- 

 cult, even to the professed botanist, that 

 an attempt to furnish the reader with a 

 clue in an elementary work like the present, 

 would be futile. The Rose is the national 

 emblem of England. [C. A. J.] 



ROSACEOUS. Having the same arrange- 

 ment as the petals of a single rose. 



ROSADE. (Fr.) Eugenia malaccensis. 



ROSA DEL MONTE. Brownea Rosa. 



ROSAGE. (Fr.") Rhododendron. - DU 

 CIEL. Viscaria Cceli-rosa. 



ROSCOEA. A genus of Nepalese herbs 

 belonging to the Zingiber acece, and named 

 in honour of William Roscoe, the accom- 

 plished author of the History of the Medici, 

 and who also published a magnificent vo- 

 lume on the plants of this order. The erect 

 leafy stem springs from a cluster of tube- 

 rous roots, and bears at its upper part a 

 spike of closely-packed large purple flow- 

 ers. These flowers have a tubular calyx; 

 a six-parted corolla whose segments are 

 in two rows, the two outer lateral segments 

 narrow and spreading, the intermediate 

 one erect and arched, and the two inner 

 lateral ones short, the intermediate one 

 called the lip larger and two-lobed ; the 

 filament is very short, and bears a curved 

 anther having two spurs at the base ; the 

 style is thread-like ; and the stigma globu- 



