30 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
name. It may be that the old name for the Cabbage-Rose, 
' Red Province/ has lingered on in remote country districts for 
centuries, like that archaic word of Chaucer ' glede,' which is still 
in common use at Burbage to signify the glowing embers in the fire. 
Baker in Willmott (1914) states that the first botanical figure of the 
Cabbage-Rose (R. centifolia L.) is that of L'Obel (1581) who describes 
it under the name of R. damascena maxima. Gerard (1596) includes 
it in his catalogue of plants under the name of " R. damascena flore 
multiplici, the Great Holland Rose, commonly called the Province 
Rose." In his Herbal of 1597, however, he describes and figures it 
under the name of " R. Hollandica sive Batava, the Great Holland 
Rose or Great Province." Clusius (1601) describes it under the name 
of R. centifolia batavica. Parkinson (1629) describes fully and figures 
what is undoubtedly the Cabbage-Rose under the name of " R. pro- 
vincialis sive Hollandica Damascena, the Great Double Damaske Pro- 
vince or Holland Rose, that some call Centifolia Batavica incarnata." 
Ellacombe (1905) suggested that Parkinson's (1629) " R. Anglica 
rubra, the English Red Rose," is the Cabbage-Rose, but the description 
" abideth low and shooteth forth many branches from the roote . . . 
with a greene barke thinner set with prickles . . . red or deepe crimson 
colour . . . with many more yellow threds in the middle, the sent 
... is not comparable to the excellencie of the damaske Rose, yet 
this Rose being well dryed and well kept, will hold both colour and 
sent longer then the damaske, bee it never so well kept," seems to 
correspond precisely with the characters of R. gallica L., the old French 
Rose, and not at all with R. centifolia L., the old Cabbage-Rose.* 
Ferrarius (1633), i n Italy, describes the Cabbage-Rose under 
the name of R. Batava centifolia. Chabraeus (1677), in Switzerland, 
describes and figures it under the name of R. centifolia rubella plena. 
In her monograph of the genus Rosa (1914), Miss Ellen Willmott 
draws attention to the interesting fact that the Cabbage-Rose was a 
favourite subject with the old Dutch painters, especially Van Huysum 
(1 682-1 749) who excelled in portraying it. Liger (1708), in France, 
mentions it under the name of "La Rose d'Hollande a cent feuilles, 
avec odeur." Salmon (1710) describes and figures it as "The Great 
Double Damask Province, or Holland Rose." Finally, Linnaeus 
(1753) describes the Cabbage-Rose under its accepted name of R. 
centifolia. Miller (1768), owing to a misunderstanding of Linnaeus' 
diagnoses of 1753 and 1762 (which it must be admitted were not 
very clear) describes the Cabbage-Rose under the name of R. pro- 
vincial, the Provence Rose, and others followed him. Fortunately 
* [It is interesting to compare Parkinson's remarks above, concerning the 
drying properties of the ' English Red Rose ' with the statement of a modern 
practical chemist, Sawer (1894), who states that " The flowers of R. gallica 
(which are used omcinally) are but feebly odoriferous when freshly gathered ; 
their perfume develops gradually in the process of desiccation, while that of the 
Damask Rose is almost destroyed by drying." From this it appears that 
there is a real physiological and chemical difference between R. gallica L. and 
R. ^damascena Mill., apart from their morphological differences which to some 
modern systematists appear to be negligible.] 
