ROSA GALLICA. RED OFFICINAL ROSE. 
Class XII. ICOSANDRIA.— Order I. POLYGYNIA. 
Natural Order, ROSACEiE. THE ROSE TRIBE. 
This species of rose is a native of the south of Europe, but is common in our gardens, and flowers in June 
and July. In its cultivated state, it is scarcely three feet high, sending up, from its creeping roots, many 
stems, armed with fine, dispersed, short, straight prickles. The leaves consist of two or three pairs of leaflets, 
with a terminal one attached on very short petioles to a common foot-stalk ; the leaflets are ovate, rigid, 
doubly serrated, smooth, of a fine rather shining green colour on the upper surface, pale, downy, or hairy 
underneath. The stipules are linear-lanceolate, pointed, entire, downy and glandular. The flowers consist 
of a few large spreading petals, of a deep peculiar rich crimson colour ; their base, like the stamens, of a fine 
gold colour, and stand on stiff, erect peduncles. The segments of the calyx are downy, sometimes fringed 
at the margin with a row of linear-lanceolate leaflets, as if pinnate : the stamens are numerous, bearing 
roundish yellow anthers ; the germens are also numerous, with villose styles, united into a cylinder. The 
fruit is subglobose, and of a pale crimson colour. 
The name Rosa is supposed to be derived from the Celtic, ros, or rhos ; from whence proceeds its 
Greek synonym, pohv. De Theis considers that the Celtic rhodd, or rhudd, red, is the primary root of these 
words, the rose colour being almost synonymous with redness. Hence also came rlius, rubia, rubus, and the 
Greek name of the pomegranate, poet, or poSia, still in use. From the beauty of the genus, the rose is dedica- 
ted to Yenus, the goddess of love and beauty. Thus Berkeley, in his Utopia, describes a lover as declaring 
his passion by presenting to the fair beloved a rose-bud, just beginning to open ; if the lady accepted and 
wore the bud, she was supposed to favour his pretensions. As time increased the lady’s affection, he fol- 
lowed up the first present by that of a half-blown rose, which was again succeeded by one full-blown ; and 
if the lady wore this last, she was considered as engaged for life. In some parts of Sussex, it is customary 
for the domestics to welcome a bride, by strewing the path with roses, on her first appearance. 
The rose is mentioned by the earliest writers of antiquity as an object of culture. Herodotus speaks 
of the double rose, and Solomon of the rose of Sharon, and of the plantations of roses at Jarico. Theo- 
phrastus tells us that the hundred leaved rose grew in his time, on Mount Pangseus ; and it appears that 
the Isle of Rhodes (Isle of Roses) received its name from the culture of roses carried on there. Pliny men- 
tions several sorts of roses which were cultivated by the Romans ; and that those of Prseneste, Campania, 
Miletus and Cyrene were the most celebrated. 
Roses were more highly prized by the Romans than any other flowers ; and they had even attained 
to the luxury of forcing them. Under the reign of Domitian, the Egyptians thought of offering to that 
Emperor’s court, as a magnificent present, roses in the middle of winter ; but this the Romans smiled at, so 
abundant were roses in Rome at that season. In every street, says Martial, the odour of Spring is breathed, 
and garlands of flowers, freshly gathered, are displayed. “ Send us corn, Egyptians ! and we will send you 
roses.” (Mart., vi. 80 .) The Roman physicians determined the kinds of plants proper to be admitted into 
the floral crowns put on the heads of the great men whom it was designed to honour at festivals ; and these 
were, the parsley, the ivy, the myrtle, and the rose, which were all considered as antidotes to the evil effects 
of the vapours of wine. 
Rose trees were employed, both by the Greeks and the Romans, to decorate tombs ; and instances 
are given of rose gardens being bequeathed by their proprietors, for the purpose of furnishing flowers to 
cover their graves. An old inscription found at Ravenna, and another at Milan, prove this custom, which 
is also alluded to by Propertius and other poets. The bitterest curses were imprecated against those who 
dared to violate these sacred plantations. Sometimes the dying man ordered that his heirs should meet 
