122 



AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF 



scented varieties : — La France, Goiibault, DevoniensiSj Marechal 



Mel, Bessie Johnson, Madame Knorr, Pierre Netting, and Charles 



Lef ebvre. ' — Gardening World. 

 Rosanowia. — A tuberous -rooted gesneraceous family, with various 



coloured flowers ; some of the group are sweetly scented. 

 Rose. See Rosa. 



Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary). — A shrubby bush from South-East 

 Europe ; popular in British gardens on account of its agreeable 

 fragrance. In olden times it was held in high esteem as a comforter 

 of the brain and a strengthener of the memory, and on the latter 

 account it is an emblem of fidelity with lovers ; the Germans used 

 it as a spice, and placed it in wardrobes as a preventive against 

 vermin. Sprigs were also stuck into roasting beef for communi- 

 cating to it an excellent relish. The dried herb when burnt is 

 useful for sweetening the air, and its chief value in the present day 

 is as a perfume in the manipulation of scented soaps. 



Roulinia. — A tropical American family of twining plants, with pale 

 yellow flowers. 



Roupellia grata. — ^A climbing plant from West Africa. The flowers 

 are rosy white, opening clear pink and changing to creamy white. 

 They grow in terminal clusters, and are produced in great profu- 

 sion. One can imagine the size of the plant, as it rambles over the 

 roof, when we say tlmt the effect as seen from a little distance is 

 that of an Apple orchard in bloom. The flowers are of great sub- 

 stance and deliciously fragrant. 



Rubus odoratus (Floicering Bramble). — A hardy deciduous North 

 American trailing plant, with pale red scented flowers, useful and 

 pretty in places suitable for its rambling disposition : — 



' Pale she was as the Bramble-blooms 



That fill the fields with their faint perfumes.' — Ovv^en Meredith. 



Rudbeckia subtomentosa. — A North American herbaceous plant, 

 bearing a profusion of small, sunflower-like blooms, yellow, with 

 chocolate discs, smelling sweetly of new-mown hay ; the foliage 

 is also impregnated with a similar odour. 



Ruta graveolens [Rue, Hei^h of Grace). — A shrubby plant, native of 

 the temperate parts of Europe, and common in British gardens. 

 Rue was employed medicinally by the ancients, and for ages it lias 

 been considered potent to ward off contagion. The whole plant has 

 a peculiar odour which can hardly be called a sweet scent, and to 

 this day is largely employed for strewing over the hustings on the 

 occasion of the election of Lord Mayor and Sheriffs at the Guildhall 

 in London. It is not clearly known how this custom originated, but 



