ON THE ROSE. 
327 
ON THE ROSE. 
The localities mentioned by ancient authors, where the Rose was said to grow are but few 
in number, and among them are included, not only the places where it was indigenous, but 
also those where it was cultivated in the greatest profusion, or attained to its most perfect 
and luxuriant state. 
Athenseus has quoted passages from the Georgics of Nicander, which inform us that 
Roses grew at Olenum, Megara, and Nissea, cities of Achaia, in the Peloponnesus ; also, 
that they grew near Phaselis, a city on the confines of Pamphylia and Lycia, provinces of 
Asia Minor. The finest Roses, however, he states, grew at Magnesia ad Mseandrum 
(Inekbazar-L^aA;^), a city of Lycia, in Asia Minor. The Island of Tenedos he also observes 
produced Roses. 
Lycia still retains its Roses ; for we learn from the recent travels of Lieut. Spratt, and 
Professor E. Forbes, in that country, that, on the flanks of the Massicytus, a mountain of 
about 10,000 feet elevation, and forming one of the boundaries of the Xanthian plain, 
" Roses were observed in flower," (vol. i., p. 131). In Pamphylia also, Roses are still 
found. " Descending " (from Saharajik, near Phaselis,) " to the Pamphylian plain, we 
passed," say the above mentioned travellers, " through woods where the Cercis siliquas- 
trum was covered with purple blossoms ; and privets, and Roses were in flower." (Vol. i,, 
p. 143). 
*' The north-west of Asia," remarks Mrs. Gore, in "The Rose Fancier's Manual," 
(pp. 6 and 9,) " which has been signalised as the fatherland of the Rose-tree, introduces to 
our admiration the R. centifoUa, the most esteemed of all (roses), and celebrated by poets 
of every age and country. The R. ferox mingles its large red blossoms and thorny 
branches with those of the Hundred-leaved. Here also the R. multiflom attains a growth 
of fifteen or sixteen feet." The Island of Samos in the ^gean sea, celebrated for its 
salubrious climate, produced Roses abundantly. One of the Deipnosophists in Athenaeus 
observes, that what is related by ^thlius Samius in his work upon the remarkable occur- 
rences which take place in Samos, namely, that there, figs, grapes, apples, and Roses, are 
produced twice a year, appears neither improbable, nor untrue. According to Theophrastus, 
the R. centifolia was indigenous to the neighbourhood of Philippi, a city of Macedonia, and 
was also found in the vicinity of Mens Pangaeus, in Thrace. 
From Herodotus we learn, that in the gardens of Midas, Roses grew with a natural 
luxuriance, some of which had sixty flower leaves, and possessed a fragrance surpassing all 
the rest. It may here be remarked, that as early as the time of the Ptolemies, the art of 
gardening had advanced in the favourable climate of Egypt so far, that a succession of 
flowers was obtained all the year round. Martial, in one of his epigrams remarks, that 
Egyptian Roses were an esteemed present at Rome : that from Egypt Roses were brought 
formerly in great abundance to that city, but that in his time the Romans produced this 
flower in such quantities, that they would now be able to send them to Egypt. 
Tlie Roses mentioned by Pliny, for the most part, indicate by their names the localities 
from which they were either obtained, or where they were cultivated, or where they were the 
natural produce of the soil. 
The Prsenestine Rose obtained its distinctive appellation from Prseneste, a city of 
Latium, not very far distant from Rome, to the neighbourhood of which, Horace sometimes 
resorted. 
The Campanian Rose was a native of Campania, and flourished there most luxuriantly ; 
clothing the soil with beauty, while as yet the corn had not sprung up. Here also grew 
the R. centifolia. 
The Milesian Rose was so called from Miletus, a city of the Island of Crete, near which 
it is said to have been first found. 
The Trachinian Rose appears to have been a native of Thessaly, and is supposed to 
have grown near the city of Heraclea, which was also called Trachinia. 
