• ROSA MIILTIFLORA 
i^aircd by Rcdoutc is var. plalyphylla, die Seven Sisters Rose,' which 
vas introduced into France by Noisette in 1817 and llowcred there 
was 
in 1819. 
Of the numerous varieties of Rosa niiiltijiora, I'ranchet N Savatier 
oi\’e names to six, exclusive of Rosa Lnciae Franch. & Rochebr. and 
Rosa IVic/iuraiana Crep. Several forms oTown by the Japanese are 
figured in the Phonzo Zoiifou (part 27); plates 8 and 28 of Ih'aam’s 
Icones~ represent another form, and there are others in the Kew collec- 
tion of drawings. The species is widely spread in China and Japan, 
and extends to the Philippine Islands and to eastern Thibet. It may 
readily be recognized by its many small flowers, small fruits, and 
laciniated or pectinate stipules. It may be distinguished even when 
not m flower by this last character, which it keeps in all the varieties. 
The character of the long loose panicle is apt, however, to be lost, as 
in the old variety, the Seven Sisters {Rosa platyphylla Thory), and still 
more in the Crimson Rambler, in which the panicle is so closely packed 
that at a short distance it looks like a huge double Rose. 
o ^ ^ 
The single-flowered white Rose which Carnere'^ described in 
1 868 in an article entitled “ Rosa dubia ” is no other than the type Rosa 
mnltijlora. There can be no doubt about it because of the drawing 
which illustrates his description. Although he heads his article “ Rosa 
dubia,” he does not again use that name, nor even refer to it. “ Le 
qualificatif intermedia cjue nous lui avons donne est tres exact,” is his 
only other reference to a name. He says that the Rose had been raised 
by Andre Leroy of Angers from seeds sent him from China. Deseglise, 
who, however, wrote without having seen the living plant, unhesitatingly 
referred it to Rosa tJiyrsiflora Leroy ; he says the seeds came from Japan 
and not from China, and severely criticizes Carriere’s description, 
which passes over the principal characters and exaggerates the super- 
ficial attributes of the Rose for the purpose of attracting the attention 
of his readers to its nature as a “plante d ornement.” In 1876 Carriere, 
writing again in the Revue Horticole,'" acknowledges his mistake and 
refers his Rosa intermedia to Rosa polyantJia Sieb. & Zucc., saying that 
it was the Secretary of the French Horticultural Society, M. Lavallee, 
who brought to his notice the existence of Siebold & Zuccarini s 
Rose. 
There are few Roses more desirable for a wild garden than the 
type oiRosa nmltiflora, where it can be given sufficient space to develop. 
It is perfectly hardy and grows very rapidly, and when in full flower 
* Roses, vol. ii. p. 69 (1821). 
® leones plantariiin sponte China nascentiuni, e bibliotheca Braatniana excerptae. (There are two copies 
of this collection in the Kew Library, both with unnumbered plates, differently arranged. One has a 
printed title-page, dated 1821, and a short Latin preface in which Rosa niicrocarpa and Rosa involucrata 
are mentioned. The other has a lithographed title-page, dated 1818, and an “advertisement” signed 
W. Cattleyi) 
^ Revue Horticole, p. 269, 
* Page 253. 
25 
