BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATIOX. 



15 



lar kind, as in Inclin. It appears, from specimens brought 

 from Chizapore by Colonel Hardwicke, that i2. Damascena 

 is there exclusively used for obtaining the essential oil. 

 The Persians also make use of a sort which Koempfer 

 calls R, Shirazensis^ (from its growing about Shiraz), in 

 preference to others ; this may be either i?. Damascena 

 Gallica^ or li. centifolia^ or, perhaps, moschata. 

 The species contained in the present^ section are all setig- 

 erous, by which they are distinguished from the follow- 

 ing divisions; their thickened disk and divided sepals 

 separate them from the preceding. To the section of 

 Rubiginosse the glanduliferous sorts approach ; but the 

 difference of their glands, the size of their flow^ers, and 

 their dissimilar habit, prevent their being confounded. 



R. Damascena. — The Damascus, or Damask Rose. — 

 Rose a quatre Saisons. Synonyms, R. Belgica, 3IilL 

 R. calendarum. Munch, R. bifera, Poir, Prickles une- 

 qual, the large ones falcate. Sepals reflexed. Fruit elon- 

 gated. Native of Syria. Flow^ers large, white or red, 

 single or double. The present species may be distinguish- 

 ed from R, centifolia by the greater size of the prickles, 

 the greenness of the bark, the elongated fruit, and the 

 long, reflexed sepals. The petals of this species, and all 

 the varieties of R. centifolia^ as well as those of other 

 species, are employed indiscriminately for the purpose of 

 making rose-water. A shrub, growing from two feet to 

 eight feet high, and flowering in June and July 



This species is extremely beautiful, from the size and 

 brilliant color of its flowers. It is asserted by some 

 writers to have been brought from Damascus in Syria at 

 the time of the Crusades, but there is every probability 

 that it came from Italy, since it is the same as the Rlfera^ 

 or the twice-bearing rose of the ancient Roman gardeners, 

 and is the original type of onr Remontant Roses. The 

 Roman gardeners could have produced a certain autumnal 

 bloom only by a sort of retarding process ; for, although 

 the Damask Rose will, under peculiar circumstances, bloom 



