ROSA MOLLIS 
sparingly pinnatifid. Petals usually pink, occasionally white. Styles free, included, 
villous. Fruit pyriform, often cernuous, red, pulpy, ripening early, crowned by the 
erect, connivent, persistent sepals. 
Rosa mollis is common in Scotland and the north of England, 
extending some way down the west coast into Wales, but not known 
certainly in the midland counties. It extends as far east as the Caucasus 
and the mountains of Greece. It is found in Spain, in the Vaudois 
valleys of Piedmont, in Switzerland, and commonly in the Jura, but 
rarely in Belgium and Germany. 
Crdpin considered that Rosa mollis was the one specific type for the 
whole section Villosae, which includes Rosa orientalis Dupont, Rosa 
Vanheurckiana C rep. , Rosa Boissieri C rep. , Rosa pomifera H errm . , and 
many others. These Roses form a complete chain of connecting links. 
Rosa mollis approaches very nearly to Rosa pomifera Herrm. ; indeed 
Linnaeus and the early writers united them under the name of Rosa 
villosa L. ; Rosa mollis , however, generally grows more bushy and com- 
pact, being often not more than 3 feet in height. It has frequently been 
confounded with Rosa tomentosa Sm., from which it differs by its short 
erect stems, villous grey hairs, and simple or nearly simple sepals, which 
persist until the early-ripening, pulpy fruit itself decays. Varieties of it 
are Rosa villosa , var. caerulea of Woods, 1 which differs from the type 
by its naked fruit and peduncles, and Rosa pseudo-rubigin os a of Lejeune, 2 
distinguished by its leaves, which are smaller, much less hairy, and 
densely glandular beneath. The globose, bright red fruits ripen at 
the end of August or early in September and are very ornamental. 
They are very often pendulous. 
1 Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xii. p. 192 (1818). 
2 FI. Spa, vol. i. p. 229 (18 1 1). 
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