THE YOUNG 



NATUEALIST. 



171 



tenths of all the wild roses one is likely 

 to meet with belongs. When rosy J une 

 comes in with flowers, it is this rose 

 which bedecks our hedgerows with its 

 lovely tinted, sweetly scented blossoms, 

 and in autumn and winter the leafless 

 thickets are rendered gay with its 

 brilliant scarlet heps/^ which furnish 

 a luxuriant meal to many a famishing 

 and shivering songster of the grove 

 The fruit of the rose is singular in 

 structure, the hollow calyx tube 

 becomes succulent and fleshy, enclosing 

 the hard, bony, hairy fruits, each con- 

 taining a single seed. If a rose flower 

 be examined it will be found that each 

 individual style runs down to its own 

 independent little carpel, which although 

 contained in the calyx tube are really 

 as separate and distinct as they are in 

 the buttercup or brambleberry. The 

 sweet and juicy hep'' of the rose is 

 used medicinally, being made into a 

 conserve which is perhaps most fre- 

 quently used as a vehicle for the 

 exhibition of more potent drugs. But 

 it is because of the exquisite odour 

 emanating from the flowers of various 

 cultivated species that the rose is held 

 in highest favour. Many housewives 

 simply dry the petals in the sun. In 

 certain kinds this process intensifies 

 and perpetuates the perfume, so that 



" You may break, you may shatter the vase 

 if you will, 



The scent of the roses will cling to it still." 



The infusion known as rose-water is 



always popular as a perfume, about six 

 pounds of rose-petals are used to make 

 a gallon. But in the true attar of 

 roses, manufactured only in oriental 

 countries, as much as 250 lbs. of rose- 

 petals are required to produce an 

 ounce of the genuine attar, or putting 

 it in another way 100, 000 flowers 

 only yield 180 grains or three drachms 

 of pure extract. According to a high 

 authority 10, 000 flowers are needed 

 to make a single rupee weight of attar, 

 which sells for £10. No wonder that 

 with such high prices the temptation 

 to adulterate is almost irresistable. 

 The rose exhibits excessive variability 

 of structure from the densely covered 

 stems and flower-stalks of the moss 

 rose to the perfectly smooth and 

 thornless B. baiihia, and from the 

 simple five petalled wild rose to the 

 gorgeous double flowers of the hundred- 

 leaved or cabbage rose. This tendency 

 to variation finds expression in numer- 

 ous abnormal freaks, such as leaves 

 taking the place of sepals, flowers with- 

 in flowers, &c., and perhaps no genus 

 has furnished more floral prodigies, 

 and monstrosities. A common illus- 

 tration of this mutability of parts is 

 seen in those moss-like cushions called 

 robin's nest," which are so frequent 

 on briars in autumn. Under the name 

 of bedeguar" these were formerly in 

 considerable repute in medicine, but 

 they have now fallen into disuse, 

 although they were said to be specifics 



