i7— ROSA RUGA Lindl. 
(ROSA CHINENSIS x ARVENSIS) 
Rosa ruga: caule decumbente ; aculeis brevibus, conformibus, sparsis, falcatis; 
foliolis 5-7, ovatis, acutis, simpliciter dentatis, utrinque glabris, viridibus, lateralibus 
distincte petiolatis ; rhachi glabra, aciculata; stipulis adnatis, apicibus liberis, parvis, 
ovato-lanceolatis ; floribus pluribus in columna, albis vel roseo-tinctis, plenis, 
suaveolentibus; pedicellis elongatis, nudis ; calycis tubogloboso, nudo; lobis parvis, 
simplicibus, ovatoacuminatis ; stylis exsertis, leviter coalitis ; fructu globoso, rubro, 
nudo ; sepalis caducis. 
R. ruga Lindley in Bot. Reg. vol. xvi. t. 1389 (1830). 
R. indie a, var. ruga Loudon, Arboretum , vol. ii. p. 77 1 (1838). 
Stem trailing, reaching a length of 10-12 feet in a single season ; prickles short, 
uniform, scattered, hooked. Leaflets 5-7, ovate, acute, middle-sized, simply toothed, 
green and glabrous on both surfaces, side ones distinctly stalked ; petioles aciculate, 
glabrous ; stipules ad n ate, with small ovate-lanceolate free points. Flowers several 
in a column, white or tinged with pink, double, fragrant ; pedicels long, naked. 
Calyx-tube globose, naked ; lobes small, simple, ovate-acuminate. Styles exserted, 
loosely coherent. Fruit rarely produced, globose, bright red, naked ; sepals deciduous. 
This very beautiful Rose was raised in Italy, and is believed to 
have been a cross between Rosa arvensis Huds. and a Tea Rose. 
About 1830 Mr. Clare sent it to the Horticultural Society’s garden 
at Chiswick, and it is to the generosity of the Society that we owe the 
introduction into English gardens of one of the most beautiful of 
climbing Roses. 
Rosa ruga is intermediate between its parents, uniting the free, 
graceful growth of Rosa arvensis with the fragrant double flowers of 
the Tea Rose. The flowers are borne in clusters and are shell-pink 
in colour, gradually becoming paler as they expand. It is exceedingly 
floriferous, and although its foliage is not, strictly speaking, persistent, 
it remains on the bush far into the winter. 
Lindley’s description of Rosa ruga in the Botanical Register is 
accompanied by a drawing which gives an excellent idea of the Rose, 
He also wrote about it in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society l 
stating it to be a mule between Rosa indica L. and Rosa arvensis , and 
calling attention to its not having been in the least injured by the frosts 
of 1837 and 1838, either at Pitmaston or at Redleaf. 
1 Ser. 2, vol. ii. p. 255 (1838). 
55 
H 
