103 
Mr Neill on the Ayrshire Rose. 
Ayrshire Rose. Such is the rapidity of growth of its long slen- 
der shoots, that one plant has been known to cover a gable- wall 
twenty feet high, and a side-wall of double that length, in the 
course of two seasons. It has therefore been much in request 
for covering out-houses, and disguising offensive walls or pal- 
ings. It is an exotic species, but is nearly allied to our native 
Rosa arvensis or White Dog-rose, and has probably, indeed, 
in many cases been confounded with that species. 
Mr Woods, in his monograph of British Roses, in the 12th 
volume of the Linnean Transactions, seems to unite both toge- 
tlier, in his account of the Rosa arvensis ; although, as will 
presently appear, the Ayrshire rose has perhaps stronger 
claims to be regarded as a separate species than several others 
considered as specifically distinct by this author, such as R. ru- 
bella and R, surculosa. 
Dr Sims, the highly respectable editor of the Botanical Ma- 
gazine, when publishing in that work (PI. 2054.) a figure of 
what he calls Rosa arvensis var. / 3 , observes, “ It has been 
known some years in our nurseries under the name of the Ayr- 
shire Rose ; but upon what grounds it has been so called, is 
difficult to say ; for, upon inquiry, we are informed no rose of 
the kind could be heard of there, or in any part of Scotland.” 
That Rosa arvensis, or a slight variety of it, may have been of- 
ten sold in the London nurseries in place of the genuine Ayrshire 
Rose, is nowise improbable ; the former being much more ea- 
sily procured than the latter. But the Doctor must have been 
exceedingly unfortunate, indeed, in the inquiries made regard- 
ing the Ayrshire rose in Scotland; for, that species is well 
known, not only in the county of Ayr, but throughout Scotland 
wherever there is a respectable private garden or public nur- 
sery. 
Before giving an account of the origin of the Ayrshire rose, 
or of its introduction into this country, it may be proper 
to detail its characters, in order to establish its title to be re- 
garded as a distinct species ; and it may be useful at the same 
time to premise a description of the Rosa arvensis, that the reader 
may thus have the characters of the two species brought into 
immediate contrast. In some gardens in the neighbourhood of 
Bdinburgh, both the true Ayrshire rose and the Rosa ai’vensis 
