ROSA CINNAMOMEA 
“ Rosa Cinnamomea flore simplici. 
“The single Cinnamon Rose. 
“ These Roses are planted in our London gardens, and elsewhere, but not found 
wilde in Hngland.” 
It is dirticult to identify the Rose from Gerard’s figures, or to say 
with any certainty if his single form was simpl)’ the cinnamon-scented 
Rose of the other pre-Linnaean writers, or whether it was really our 
J\os (7 cinnamomea. There are somewhat similar figures in several 
other pre-Linnaean books. 
Linnaeus at first confused this Rose with Rosa alpina {pendulina). 
H is description of the Rose he calls Rosa cinnamomea in the first edition 
of the Species Plantarum is the same as that of Rosa alpina in the second 
edition, but his Rosa cinnamomea of the Systema Naturae and Species 
Plantarum, ed, 2, is our plant. 
Rosa cinnamomea is easily distinguished from all other Roses by 
its very large spreading stipules, often an inch or more across from 
point to point. The name is misleading, for it is difficult to detect the 
scent of cinnamon in any part of the plant, although Gilbert,^ in 1683, 
describes it as having “a faint scent, a little like Cinnamon, from whence 
its name.” 
The double form figured is an old Rose, formerly to be found m 
many continental gardens, known as the Rose de Mai, Rose de Pdques, 
or Rose du Saint- Sacrement, and figured by Redoute^ under the name 
of Rosa majalis. It differs from the double cin 7 iamomea usually found 
in cultivation by its finety and slantingly crimped petals, which are of 
a beautiful bright rosy tint shading to nearly white. It has now almost 
died out, but may occasionally be met with in some out-of-the-world 
botanic garden. The Rose from which the drawing was made grew 
in the old Correvon garden at Yverdun, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland. 
* Florist's Vade Meciim, p. 150. ^ Roses, vol. i. p. 105 (1817). 
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