1 1 7— ROSA CENTIFOLIA ALBO-MUSCOSA 
WHITE MOSS ROSE 
Rosa centifolia albo-muscosa : a typo recedit ramis dense aciculatis ; calycis 
tubo et lobis processis linearibus ; foliolis glandulosis, ad dorsum et marginem 
dense append iculatis ; floribus albis, plenis. 
R. muscosa alba Hort. ex Regel in Act . Hoyt. Petrop. vol. v. p. 354 ( Tent . 
Ros. Monogr. p. 70 [1877]) (1878). 
R. provincialis muscosa Lindley in Bot. Reg. vol. ii. t. 102 (1816). 
The earliest white Moss Rose known appears to have been the 
White Bath, or, as it was sometimes called, the Clifton Moss. It 
originated about 1810 in a garden at Clifton, where a bush of the 
Pink Moss threw up a branch which produced white flowers. This 
was propagated and the Rose distributed. Andrews figures it 1 as 
Rosa muscosa provincialis alba , White Province, or Bath Moss Rose ; 
his drawing was made from a plant in Knight’s nursery at Chelsea. 
Speaking ot the present Rose and of Shailer’s White Moss, he says 
that “ although nearly twenty years have elapsed since their first 
introduction as novelties, they are still considered rare plants, not 
being so easily increased or preserved as the generality of this fair 
genus.” Shailer’s White Moss was also a sport from the pink Moss, 
which occurred in his nursery at Battersea, and, according to Rivers, 2 
was not such a pure white nor so mossy as the Bath White. 
This is certainly the Rose figured by Redoute, 3 for not only does 
the drawing answer in every way to the description of Shailer’s Rose, 
but Thory refers to Shailer by name in the text. From Thory’s 
remarks it would appear that the White Bath was not at that time 
known in France. In the Botanical Register of 1816 (t. 102) there 
is an excellent plate of the White Moss Rose made from a plant 
growing in Colville’s nursery. Prevost 4 mentions two Roses with 
white flowers, but does not say which they were. 
1 Roses , t. 63 (1823). 3 Roses, vol. i. t. 87 (1817). 
3 Rose Amateur's Guide , p. 16 (1840), 4 Catalogue , p. 64 (1829). 
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