ROSA CENTIFOLIA 
Theophrastus, the writer of the most ancient history of Roses extant, 1 
gives them a hundred petals {centifolia) , but he quotes Caepio, who 
lived in the time of the Emperor Tiberius, as saying that they were so 
deficient in fragrance that the Romans thought them unsuitable to be 
used for wreaths. Pliny adds that they were far surpassed in fragrance 
by the Rose which grew on a briar, mbits. The Latin word mbits and 
its Greek equivalent, batos , are employed somewhat loosely in the ancient 
classics, and though sometimes meaning a bramble, are also used for 
a Briar Rose. The Greek compounds cynorrhodon , dog-rose, and 
cynosbatos , dog-briar, as used by Pliny, are of obscure identification, 
having both of them more than one meaning. Pliny 2 tells us that the 
first of these names was sometimes used also for a red lily. The 
contradictions and inconsistencies in Pliny’s writings make the labour 
devoted by the old herbalists to identify his plants mere waste of time 
and energy. 
Following on, we find constant reference to these Roses in poetry, 
prose, and legend, and even cultural comments are not wanting. 
These ancient writers, however, are so vague that they afford endless 
matter for conjecture, and we are still upon uncertain ground until we 
arrive at the sixteenth century. We know that Rosa centifolia was 
cultivated in England at that time, because it was included in Gerard’s 
list of the species grown in his garden in Holborn in 1 596, and it is 
certainly the Rosa centifolia batavica of Clusius. 3 Canon Ellacombe 
believes it to be the “ Provencal Rose ” of Shakespeare, the “ Rose 
of Rhone ” of Chaucer, and the English Red Rose of Parkinson. 
There is no record of its introduction into this country, and Canon 
Ellacombe considers this sufficient evidence of its very early existence 
in English gardens. 
With regard to its habitat, which Pliny gave as Campania in 
Italy and the vicinity of Philippi in Macedonia, it is difficult now to 
speak with any degree of certainty, for a Rose which has been in 
cultivation for so many centuries may be found apparently spontaneous 
and yet be merely an escape from some garden of former ages. This 
is most probably the case with the plants found in the south of Europe, 
although several writers consider Rosa centifolia as a European species. 
Lindley, whose opinion is most generally adopted, strongly doubted 
its European origin, preferring to regard it as a native of Asia. 
Bieberstein 4 found the double-flowered form on the eastern side of the 
Caucasus, where he thought it was hardly possible it could have been 
an escape from a garden. Roessig 5 endeavoured to prove that Rosa 
centifolia was originally derived from a Rosa canina L. whose flowers 
had been modified and transformed or perfected by long centuries of 
1 Hist. Plant , lib. vi. ch. 6. 4 Des. Cat. Rais. p. 84. 
2 Lib. xxi. ch. 11. 5 Des. Ec. et Bot. des Roses, v ol. i. p. 42 (1799). 
3 Rariorum Plantarum Historia , lib. iii. p. 113 (1601). 
