ROSA SEMPERVIRENS 
Dalmatia, Greece, Thrace, and also in Algeria, Morocco and Tunis. 
Grenier & Godron give its localities in France as following the shores 
of the Mediterranean, then reaching Angers and following the banks of 
the Rhone as far as Lyons. There is, however, no other record of Lyons 
being one of its habitats. It is intermediate between Rosa arvensis 
Huds. and Rosa moschata Miller, differing from both by its bright 
green, firm, subpersistent leaflets. According to Fraas 1 it is mentioned 
by Hippocrates, Dioscorides, Theophrastus and Pliny. C. Bauhin 2 
published it under the name of “ Rosa moschata sempervirens ” in 1623, 
and it is figured and described by Parkinson 3 and Dillenius. 4 
As is natural with a Rose so widely distributed, there are many 
geographical varieties, to which different authors have given specific 
rank. Of these the chief are : 
Rosa scandens Miller, 5 with larger leaflets, more abundant, musk- 
scented flowers, more abundant bracts, and sepals casually compound. 
This is the Rosa sempervirens of the Italian and Sicilian botanists. 
Rosa pro strata DC., G with weak, decumbent stems, small leaflets, 
few and solitary flowers and glabrous styles. Dr. Christ describes a 
hybrid with Rosa dumetorum Thuill., and it is probable that var. Rtissel- 
liana of Loudon 7 and the Rose Clare 8 are hybrids between Rosa 
sempei virens and Rosa chinensis Jaccj. 
Rosa sempervirens microphylla DC., 9 which De Candolle found 
near Montpellier, with leaves much smaller than the type. 
Rouy in his Flore de France 10 describes several other varieties, 
among them a very pretty form found on Mont Boron, Nice, Rosa 
sempervirens micrantha , which has retained all its characteristics and 
has flowered in the open ground at Warley regularly year by year. 
M. de Pronville 11 refers to a very beautiful variety growing in the 
Luxembourg gardens under the name of Rosa sempervirens latifolia, 
which was described by Thory as follows: “ Leaflets much larger and 
longer than in any other variety of the type. Tubes and pedicels 
tinged with red. Nine to ten white flowers in an inflorescence.” 
It is to be feared that this Rose must be added to the long list of 
old Roses which have gone out of cultivation, to make room for the 
increasing number of new introductions to which Alphonse Karr 
referred when he said that a Rose which lacked fragrance was but half 
a Rose, since perfume is the soul and spirit of a flower. 
Several of our most valued climbing Roses belong to this group. 
Formerly the Ayrshire Roses were included, but now they are classed 
under Rosa arvensis Huds. 
The early garden varieties of Rosa sempervirens originated in the 
1 Synopsis Plantarum Florae Classicae , p. 74 (1870). 6 De Candolle, Cat. Hort. Monsp p. 138 (1813). 
2 Pinax, p. 482. 7 Arboretum , vol. iv. p. 773 (1838). 
3 Paradisus , p. 420 (1629). s Figured in Bot. Reg. vol. xvii. t. 1438 (1831). 
4 Hort. Elth t. 246, fig. 318 (1732). 9 De Candolle, loc. cit. 
5 Gard. Diet., ed. 8, No. 8 (1768). 10 Vol. vi. pp. 239-240 (1900). 
11 Sommaire Pune monographie du genre Rosier , p. 42 (1822). 
20 
