ROSA CINNAMOMEA 
“ Rosa Cinnamomea flore simplici. 
“ The single Cinnamon Rose. 
“ These Roses are planted in our London gardens, and elsewhere, but not found 
wilde in England.” 
It is difficult to identify the Rose from Gerard’s figures, or to say 
with any certainty if his single form was simply the cinnamon-scented 
Rose of the other pre-Linnaean writers, or whether it was really our 
Rosa cinnamomea. There are somewhat similar figures in several 
other pre-Linnaean books. 
Linnaeus at first confused this Rose with Rosa alptna {pendtdina). 
H is description of the Rose he calls Rosa cinnamomea in the first edition 
of the Species P lantarum is the same as that of Rosa alptna in the second 
edition, but his Rosa cinnamomea of the Systema Naturae and Species 
P lantarum , ed. 2, is our plant. 
Rosa cinnamomea is easily distinguished from all other Roses by 
its very large spreading stipules, often an inch or more across from 
point to point. The name is misleading, for it is difficult to detect the 
scent of cinnamon in any part of the plant, although Gilbert, 1 in 1683, 
describes it as having “a faint scent, a little like Cinnamon, from whence 
its name.” 
The double form figured is an old Rose, formerly to be found in 
many continental gardens, known as the Rose de Mat, Rose de P agues, 
or Rose du Saint-Sacrement , and figured by Redoute 2 under the name 
of Rosa majalis. It differs from the double cinnamomea usually found 
in cultivation by its finely and slantingly crimped petals, which are of 
a beautiful bright rosy tint shading to nearly white. It has now almost 
died out, but may occasionally be met with in some out-of-the-world 
botanic garden. The Rose from which the drawing was made grew 
in the old Correvon garden at Yverdun, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland. 
1 Florist's Vade Mecum , p. 150. 2 Roses, vol. i. p. 105 (1817). 
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