BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION. 



10 



R. alba, Z/?^. — The Common White Rose. — Leaflets 

 oblong, glaucous, rather naked above, simply serrated. 

 Prickles straightish or flilcate, slender or strong, without 

 bristles. Sepals pinnate, reflexed. Fruit unarmed. Na- 

 tive o*f Piedmont, Cochin China, Denmark, France, and 

 Saxony. Flowers large, either white, or of the most 

 delicate blush color, Avith a grateful fragrance. Fruit ob- 

 long, scarlet, or blood-colored. A shrub, growing from 

 four feet to ten feet in heig-ht, and llowerino: in June and 



RTIBIGIITOSiE.— Brier Roses. 



Prickles unequal, sometimes bristle-formed, rarely want- 

 ing. Leaflets ovate or oblong, glandular, with diverging 

 serratures. Sepals permanent. Disk thickened. Root- 

 shoots arched. The numerous glands on the lower surface 

 of the leaves will be sufiicient to prevent anything else 

 beins: referred to this section ; and althouo-h 72. tomentosa 

 has sometimes glandular leaves, the inequality of the 

 prickles of the species of Rubiginosa3, and their red fruit, 

 will clearly distinguish them. This division includes all 

 the Eglantine, or Sweet-brier Roses. 



R, rubiil^iliosa Lhi, — Rusty-leaved Rose, Sweet- 

 Brier, or Eglantine. — R. suavifolia, Liglitf, R. Eglan- 

 teria, Mill, R. agrestis, SavL R. rubiginosa parviflora, 

 RaiL Prickles hooked, compressed, with smaller straight- 

 er ones interspersed. Leaflets elliptical, doubly serrated, 

 hairy, clothed beneath with rust-colored glands. Sepals 

 pinnate, and bristly, as well as the peduncles. Fruit obo- 

 vate, bristly toward the base. Native throughout Europe, 

 and of Caucasus. In Britain, in bushy places, on a dry 

 gravelly or chalky soil. Leaves sweet-scented when 

 bruised, and resembling the fragrance of the Pippin Apple. 

 When dried in the shade, and prepared as a tea, they 

 make a healthful and pleasant beverage. 



This species is extensively used in Europe for the for- 

 mation of Tea Roses, and it is estimated that two hund- 

 red thousand are budded annually in the vicinity of 



