ON M. CRISPIN'S CLASSIFICATION. 



449 



ESSAY UPON A SYNOPTIC TABLE OF THE SECTIONS OF 

 THE GENUS ROSA ACCORDING TO THE CLASSIFICATION 



OF M. CREPIN. 



By M. J. Gerome, Professor of the Ecole Nationale d' Horticulture, 



Versailles. 



Foe convenience of study the multitude of botanical species of Roses have 

 been divided into a certain number of sections, more or less distinct. The 

 number of these sections, their limitations, and the species included in 

 each have varied according to the point of view adopted in the classifica- 

 tion by different botanists, and also according to the nature and value of 

 the original characteristics which they have taken as the basis of their 

 method and system. 



The species cultivated in gardens belong to almost all the sections of 

 the genus ; it is therefore desirable that the horticulturist should be able 

 to see his way without much trouble amongst this genus, the complete 

 study of which is very difficult. 



Amongst the best known classifications, the most recent are those of 

 Mr. Baker and M. Crepin, the latter being the most generally adopted. 

 That of Mr. Baker, of the Kew Herbarium, was published in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, Vol. xxiv. p. 199. His work includes an analytical key of 

 the groups and an enumeration of the species and subspecies. 



The classification made by M. Crepin, Director of the Botanical 

 Gardens at Brussels, was published in 1889 in the Journal of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, Vol. xi. p. 217, and it has since been republished 

 with certain modifications in the Journal des Roses, 1891, but in neither 

 publication does M. Crepin give an analytical key or a synoptical table of 

 the sections, both of which are really necessary to enable the reader to 

 notice quickly the characters common to certain groups as well as those 

 which are peculiar to each. This omission I endeavoured to supply for 

 the use of the students at Versailles, and it may be of sufficient interest to 

 include it in the Conference Report. 



Before giving this synoptical table it will be as well to notice the cha- 

 racters on which Mr. Baker bases his classification. They are : — 



1. The leaves: from the point of view of their form (simple or com- 

 pound) and of' the greater or lesser number of leaflets. 



2. The stipules : whether present or absent. 



3. The styles : whether combined in a column and prolonged beyond 

 the disc, or free amongst themselves and not prolonged beyond the disc. 



4. The stipules : their different conditions, almost free and quickly 

 falling, or adnate (i.e. to the petiole) above the middle, persistent, &o. 



5. The thorns : with regard to their position, whether in pairs at the 

 base of the leaves, or scattered and numerous, passing gradually into very 

 small thorns and bristles, or scattered and comparatively few and of the 

 same size. Also with regard to their very different shapes, long and thin, 

 short and thick, straight, hooked, or bent. 



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