ROSA SANCTA 
impressed he was by this discovery, and with what emotion he examined 
the garland sent him from Kew by Dr. Oliver. The nine Roses which 
composed it were undoubtedly of the same variety, and he believed 
them to be identical with the Roses cultivated in Abyssinia at the present 
day in the courtyards of religious edifices. He had no hesitation in 
assigning them to the section Gallicanae , although they were a form he 
had not seen before. He did not, however, consider that they had 
ever been indigenous in Abyssinia or Egypt, but thought that they 
had most probably been introduced from Italy or Greece, or from 
Asia Minor, where Rosa gallica is found abundantly. They had no 
doubt been gathered in the neighbourhood, for it is a well-authenticated 
fact that large quantities of Roses were cultivated in Lower Egypt for 
the Roman market before the Romans had established the hot-houses in 
Rome which ensured them a constant home supply of flowers during 
the cold season. 1 There are no indigenous Roses in Egypt and none 
have been observed nearer than the mountains of Abyssinia. 
Andrews’ Rosa sancta 2 is a little Rose which Knight received 
from Italy in 1826 under the name of Rosa di San Giovanni , and has 
nothing whatever to do with Rosa sancta of Richard ; it has, in fact, 
more resemblance to Rosa Lawranceana , the Fairy Rose of old 
gardens. 
1 Martial, vi. 80 ; xiii. 27. See an article by the Rev. Mr. Jeans in the Quarterly Review , vol. 182, 
p. 122 (1895). 
2 Roses, vol. ii. t. 98 (1828). 
338 
