ROSA MULTIFLORA 
figured by Recloute is var. platyphylla, the Seven Sisters Rose, 1 2 which 
was introduced into France by Noisette in 1817 and flowered there 
in 1819, 
Of the numerous varieties of Rosa multiflora , Franchet & Savatier 
give names to six, exclusive of Rosa Lnciae F ranch. & Rochebr. and 
Rosa IV ichuraiana Crep. Several forms grown by the Japanese are 
figured in the Phonzo Zoufou (part 27); plates 8 and 28 of Braam’s 
leones 2 represent another form, and there are others in the Kew collec- 
tion of drawings. The species is widely spread in China and Japan, 
and extends to the Philippine Islands and to eastern Thibet. It may 
readily be recognized by its many small flowers, small fruits, and 
laciniatecl or pectinate stipules. It may be distinguished even when 
not in flower by this last character, which it keeps in all the varieties. 
The character of the long loose panicle is apt, however, to be lost, as 
in the old variety, the Seven Sisters ( Rosa platyphylla Thory), and still 
more in the Crimson Rambler , in which the panicle is so closely packed 
that at a short distance it looks like a huge double Rose. 
The single-flowered white Rose which Carriere 3 4 described in 
1 868 in an article entitled “ Rosa dubia ” is no other than the type Rosa 
multiflora . There can be no doubt about it because of the drawing 
which illustrates his description. Although he heads his article “ Rosa 
dubia,” he does not again use that name, nor even refer to it. “ Le 
qualificatif intermedia que nous lui avons donne est tres exact,” is his 
only other reference to a name. Fie says that the Rose had been raised 
by Andre Leroy of Angers from seeds sent him from China. Deseglise, 
who, however, wrote without having seen the living plant, unhesitatingly 
referred it to Rosa thyrsiflora Leroy ; he says the seeds came from Japan 
and not from China, and severely criticizes Carriere’s description, 
which passes over the principal characters and exaggerates the super- 
ficial attributes of the Rose for the purpose of attracting the attention 
of his readers to its nature as a “plante d’ornement.” In 1876 Carriere, 
writing again in the Revue Horticolep acknowledges his mistake and 
refers his Rosa intermedia to Rosa polyantha Sieb. & Zucc., saying that 
it was the Secretary of the French Horticultural Society, M. Lavallee, 
who brought to his notice the existence of Siebold & Zuccarini’s 
Rose. 
There are few Roses more desirable for a wild garden than the 
type of Rosa multiflora , where it can be given sufficient space to develop. 
It is perfectly hardy and grows very rapidly, and when in full flower 
1 Roses, vol. ii. p. 69 (1821). 
2 leones plantarum sponte China nascentium , e bibliotheca Braarniana excerptae. (There are two copies 
of this collection in the Kew Library, both with unnumbered plates, differently arranged. One has a 
printed title-page, dated 1821, and a short Latin preface in which Rosa microcarpa and Rosa involucrata 
are mentioned. The other has a lithographed title-page, dated 1818, and an “advertisement” signed 
W. Cattlep.) 
3 Revue Horticole , p. 269. 
4 Page 253. 
25 
