618 
ICOSANDRIA. POLYGYKIA. Rosa. 
Welsh: Ciros; Egroeswydd. Gaelic: An fhearr-dhris. E.) Hedges 
and woods ; frequent in most parts of Britain. S. June.* 
(R. sys'tyla. Fruit ovate-oblong, smooth: flower-stalks glandular: 
calyx pinnate, deciduous: prickles hooked: leafits simply ser¬ 
rated : floral receptacle conical: styles combined, smooth. Sm. 
E. Bot. 189o. 
This plant has the general habit and appearance of R. canina, but with 
flowers more numerous in each cluster; and (what perhaps affords a 
more essential distinction) styles united into a long smooth column. 
Long-styled Rose. R. systyla. Woods. Tr. Linn. Soc. vol. xii. Lindl. 
Sm. Hook, j R. collina. E. Bot. In hedges and thickets. Common in 
Sussex. Mr. Borrer. At Walthamstow, Quendon, and Clapton, near 
* A perfumed water may be distilled from the blossoms : (said to be infinitely more 
fragrant than common rose*water, and thus eulogized by Haller, “ Fragrantia ejus oiei 
omnia alia odorainenta superat, ut inter regiadona sit.” 
“ As swete as is the Bramble floure 
That bereth the red hepe.” Chaucer, 
An esteemed drink made from the leaves and twigs is used in Tartary and Siberia, where 
likewise the plant is known by a name signifying Dog-fruit. The flowers yield a spirit, and 
are preserved with honey and sugar by the inhabitants of the Volga. E.) The pulp of the 
berries, beat up with sugar, makes the conserve of heps of the London Dispeusatory. 
Mixed with wine it is an acceptable treat in the north of Europe. (In preparing 
the pulp from the heps much care should be taken to separate the rough prickly 
matter inclosing the seed, a neglect of which precaution has sometimes occasioned 
vomiting and other alarming symptoms. As the conserve is merely used to give form to 
other articles, the Edinburgh College have omitted it.) Though fieldfares and thrushes, 
when and where available, prefer feeding on insects and worms, (vid. Zoolog. Mag. vol. i.) 
yet they do, as every sportsman knows, freely devour the fruit both of the White Thorn 
and the Wild Rose. The value of the fruit of the Wild Briar as winter food for the song¬ 
sters of the grove is thus prettily described by the poet:— 
t( The woods are stripped with the wintry winds. 
And faded the flowers that bloomed on the lea ; 
But one lingering gem the wanderer finds, 
’Tis the ruby fruit of the Wild-briar tree. 
The strong have bowed down, the beauteous are dead; 
The blast through the forest sighs mournfully ; 
And bared is full many a lofty head ; 
But there’s fruit on the lowly Wild-briar tree. 
It has cheered yon bird that, with gentle swell. 
Sings, “What are the gaudy flowers to me ? 
For here will I build my nest, and dwell 
By the simple, faithful, Wild-briar tree.” E.) 
The leaves of every species of Rose, but especially of this, are recommended in the 
Eph. Nat. Curios, as a substitute for tea, giving out a fine colour, a sub-astringent taste, 
and a grateful smell, when dried and infused in boiling water. (On the strong shoots of 
this species garden Roses are now grafted, and thus are trained tall stems throwing out 
heads of considerable size, which, when clustered with varied blossoms, are highly 
ornamental, especially on grass lawns. By the Greeks Wild Roses were called 
xwopoVov, because the root was thought to cure the bite of a mad dog ; and hence the 
Latin canina , our Dog Rose ; whose arching branches and lively odorous flowers, where 
-“ Blushing, the uncultur’d Rose 
Hangs high her beauteous blossoms,” 
(intermediate in floral succession between the Hawthorn of Spring and the Honeysuckle of 
Autumn,) decorate our hedge rows through the prime of Summer, E>) 
