ROSA GALLICA 
The classical writers restricted the term Rosa to Rosa gallica and 
its allies, calling the wild briars Cynorrhodon, that is, Dog Rose. Ten 
kinds of Roses were known to Pliny, but we have no means of iden- 
tifying them. This is the Rosa sativa of Dodonaeus, the Rosa rubra 
of Gerard’s catalogue of plants growing in his Holborn garden in i 596, 
and the Rosa Milesia rubra flore pleno of Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis } 
Rosa gallica is distributed in a wild state through central and 
southern Europe, reaching eastward to the Caucasus. Although it 
hybridises freely and has given rise to many wild as well as garden 
forms, it is an exceedingly well-marked species, and its dominant 
characters are transmitted in a greater or a lesser degree to all the 
hybrids. The rather thick, wrinkled leaflets, generally five in number, 
are hoary below, and smooth, rather pale green above, and the running 
roots throw up numerous stiff stems which rarely exceed three feet in 
height. The flowers are large in proportion, generally solitary, rarely 
exceeding three, and very fragrant. These characters make the gallica 
Roses easy to recognise. 
There is a large number of spontaneous hybrids, for in its wild 
state Rosa gallica habitually hybridises with Rosa canina L., Rosa 
arvensis Huds., and other species. Many of the subordinate wild 
forms have been described as species by Boreau, Deseglise, Gandoger, 
and others ; but the characters upon which they based their conclusions 
are now generally regarded as secondary. Rouy 2 gives a dichotomic 
table setting forth the characters of the recognised gallica forms existing 
in France, Corsica, and Alsace-Lorraine. This table is invaluable 
to those interested in the wild Roses of France and of this particular 
group, which is one of infinite beauty. The Abbd Cariot’s Etudes des 
Fleurs should also be studied by those interested in the wild gallica 
forms. Rosa gallica has never been admitted into the British Flora, 
although it was found growing wild in a wood in Surrey by that accurate 
observer, the late Mr. Wilson Saunders. 
If the wild hybrids are numerous, the garden varieties are even 
more so. It would appear that the pioneers of Rose-raising from seed 
were the Dutch nurserymen, who seem to have been the first to engage 
in it to any large extent. It was doubtless their success in raising 
tulips, hyacinths, and other flowers from seed which caused them to 
turn their attention to Roses. Their first experiments were with the 
gallicas , and a glance at Van Eden’s catalogues will show the great 
number of gallica hybrids raised and named by them at Haarlem 
during the first half of the eighteenth century. Up to that time the 
number of varieties grown in the old gardens was very limited, if we 
may judge by the records of Parkinson, Gerard, Dillenius, LaOuintenye, 
and other early writers. 
1 Vern. Ordo. VI. fol. 3, t. 3 (1613). 
2 Flore de France , vol. vi. p. 256 (1900). 
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