Roses: or, a Monograph of the Genus Rosa

Part 1

ROSES:

A MONOGRAPH

THE GENUS ROSA:

CONTAINING

COLOURED FIGURES

ALL THE KNOWN SPECIES AND BEAUTIFUL VARIETIES

DRAWN, ENGRAVED, DESCRIBED, AND COLOURED,

from the Living Plants.

By H. C. ANDREWS, AUTHOR OF THE BOTANIST’S REPOSITORY, COLOURED ENGRAVINGS OF HEATHS, ETC.

Hail, lovely ROSE, of flowers the blushing queen! Burst, burst, ye numerous Nondescripts, with spleen! Ye wondrous Nothings, from a foreign soil Brought with such labour, care, and anxious toil,-- Say, can your utmost charms, combined, disclose Beauty and fragrance equal to the ROSE?

London: PRINTED BY R. TAYLOR AND CO., 38, SHOE LANE; AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 5, KNIGHTSBRIDGE.

INTRODUCTION.

The Rose, for matchless beauty famed, (although by botanists so disregarded) has been the Painter’s study and the Poet’s theme, for ages past, and will no doubt for ages yet to come; long after many a curious Nondescript shall in a dusty hortus siccus sleep, unnoticed and unknown.

The intention of the author in the delineation of this unrivalled tribe, is to arrange as accurately as possible the numerous beautiful varieties, with their species--an arduous task, considering the neglect they have experienced, and the wild and indiscriminate manner in which they have been profusely mixed. This, aided by an heterogeneous mode of culture, has produced many varieties, the lineal descent of which is very difficult to ascertain.

The extent of the genus has been most vaguely estimated; by some enumerated at two hundred and forty; an estimate that must certainly include many very slight varieties, which, if allowed, might swell the genus to ten times its real extent. But we think a rational computation would confine them within a hundred, including every distinct variety. The author’s intention is to figure only those to which a separate character can be affixed, regarding a superfluous repetition, even of beauty, inadmissible. As the merits of the present undertaking may easily be appreciated by a free access to all its beautiful originals, the author hopes a candid allowance will be made, upon a comparison with the living plant, when it is considered that the most elaborate efforts of art have never yet been able to do justice to its superior beauty.

ROSA muscosa, Provincialis.

Moss Province Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus ovatis; calycibus et pedunculis muscosis; petiolis ramulisque hispidis et glanduloso-viscosis; spinis ramorum numerosis, rectis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with egg-shaped seed-buds; empalements and peduncles mossy; petioles and younger branches hispid, and glandulously viscous; spines of the branches numerous, and straight.

The origin of this beautiful Rose, has ever been considered as enveloped in obscurity; but we have no hesitation in assigning it to the Province, to which it assimilates in every particular,--with the addition of a rich luxuriant moss, that gives it a decided superiority, and at the same time a specific distinction. In proof of our opinion, we have recently seen both the Moss and Province Rose at one time, in high perfection, on the same plant; and to remove all doubt, the plant was dug up, to show that it was but one individual root. We have since seen three more plants of the same description. Two of them had been propagated by layers from the mossy shoots. The major part of them returned to their origin, the Province. In the examination of a number of Moss Roses, we have perceived a considerable difference in the quantity of moss attached to them,--in many instances so slight, as evidently to proclaim their original. There can be little if any doubt, that this beautiful variety is the spontaneous effusion of Nature in this country, of which we shall ever regard it as indigenous, since we have never heard of any importations of this species, but of frequent exportations. The most luxuriant specimens of this plant are the dwarf growth in the open ground, from which our figure was taken.

ROSA muscosa, alba.

White Moss Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus ovatis; calycibus, pedunculis, et petiolis glanduloso-viscosis; foliolis ovatis, subtus villosis, ad margines glandulis viscosis; spinis ramorum numerosis, rectis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with egg-shaped seed-buds; empalement, peduncles, and petioles, glandulously viscous; leaflets of an oval shape, villose beneath, with small viscous glands on their edges; spines of the branches numerous, and straight.

Part 2

To the industry of Mr. Shailler, Nurseryman, of Little Chelsea, we are indebted for this delicate new Moss Rose; an acknowledged production between the Moss and White Province, or Rose Unique, and which is certainly a valuable addition to this lovely tribe. It evidently bears the compound characters of both plants, with a foliage very distinct from either of them; yet it cannot be deemed perfectly a white flower, since a delicate pale blush pervades the centre of the blossom: this, however, we regard as no diminution of its beauty, and probably not a permanent character, but owing to a tender habit, which time and culture may remove, when it becomes more abundant.

At present it is a very scarce Rose, and requires a sheltered situation. The soil in which most Roses thrive best is a light, sandy soil. Some grow very luxuriant in a stony or gravelly situation. This succeeds better with a considerable portion of rich bog earth.

ROSA muscosa, variegata.

Striped Moss Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus ovatis; calycibus, pedunculis, et petiolis glanduloso-viscosis; foliolis ovatis, subtus villosis, marginibus glandulosis; spinis ramorum sparsis, rectis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with egg-shaped seed-buds; empalements, peduncles, and petioles glandulously viscous; leaflets egg-shaped, softly haired beneath, with glandular margins; spines of the branches scattered, and straight.

* * * * *

This charming Striped Variety is another acquisition to the Mossy tribe, and, we think, of equal value with the White; and though very distinct in its character from that plant, it yet betrays a powerful affinity in many particulars, so as to leave but little doubt of its origin being nearly the same. In flower it approaches nearest to the York and Lancaster Rose, which in size and colour it much resembles.

This is likewise the production of Mr. Shailler, who propagated it at the same time as the White variety, and is equally scarce; principally owing to its being treated with too little care before it was sufficiently established. We have no doubt, however, that in time it will be equally as hardy as any other.

ROSA Provincialis.

Province Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus subrotundis; pedunculis petiolisque hispidis et glandulosis; aculeis ramorum sparsis, rectis, sub-reflexis; foliolis ovatis, subtus villosis; serratulis glandulosis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with roundish seed-buds; peduncles and petioles hispid and glandular. The prickles of the branches are scattered, straight, and slightly bent back. The leaflets are villous beneath, with glandulose serratures.

* * * * *

The species of Rose denominated Province, a native of Spain and Italy, is by far the most extended. The varieties are so numerous, that they apparently comprise one third of the genus. Our present figure represents the Single Province, a very scarce rose; and as the incipient ground of so many beautiful varieties, we regard it as peculiarly valuable. It is a singular circumstance, that from Spain and Italy, where the Province is supposed to be indigenous, and thence imported to us, we should never have heard of the Single Province, much less received the plant; which we can in no way account for, unless the superior beauty of the Common Province, joined to its great abundance, may have rendered the idea of importing those with single flowers superfluous.

Our figure was taken from the only plant we have ever seen, at the nursery of Mr. Shailer, of Little Chelsea.

ROSA Provincialis, alba.

White Province, or Rose Unique.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus subrotundis; pedunculis petiolisque hispidis et glandulosis; caule et ramis aculeatis, sparsis, rectis, sub-reflexis; foliolis ovatis, subtus villosis, marginibus glandulosis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with seed-buds nearly round; peduncles and petioles hispid and glandular: the stem and branches are prickly, scattered, straight, and slightly bent back: the leaflets are villous beneath, with slightly glandular margins.

* * * * *

Among the recent additions to this genus, the White Province, or Rose Unique, is indisputably the most valuable. Its introduction in 1777 was entirely accidental, through the medium of the late Mr. Grimwood, nurseryman, a great admirer and collector of roses, who, in an excursion which he usually made every summer, in passing the front garden of Mr. Richmond, a baker near Needham in Suffolk, there perceived the present charming plant, where it had been placed by a carpenter who found it near a hedge on the contiguous premises of a Dutch merchant, whose old mansion he was repairing. Mr. Grimwood, requesting a little cutting of it, received from Mr. Richmond the whole plant; when Mr. G., in return for a plant so valuable, presented him with an elegant silver cup with the Rose engraved upon it; and which in commemoration has furnished food for many a convivial hour. It is of a dwarf growth, and remains in flower near six weeks longer than the other Province Roses; which renders it still the more estimable. We wish it had been in our power to have accounted for its having been till so lately a stranger to us, and whence indigenous; but at present our information is entirely confined to the knowledge of its casual introduction; and until some further light is thrown upon the subject, to elucidate its genealogy, we shall regard it as a native.

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