Part 6

Our figure was taken from a fine blooming specimen in the month of September, at the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Brames, Old Brompton.

ROSA racemosa.

Clustered Rose, or Rose of the four Seasons.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus sub-rotundis, læviter glandulosa, pedunculis hispido-glandulosis, sæpe florentibus, racemosis, læte rubro-purpureis; foliolis ovatis, subtus villosis; aculeis ramorum sparsis, rectis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with roundish seed-buds, slightly glandular, peduncles hispidly glandular, often blooming, clustered, and of a bright red purple; leaflets are ovate, and villous beneath; the prickles of the branches are scattered and straight.

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This very desirable Rose was introduced from France under the title of La Rose de quatre Saisons, and which we conceive to be an appropriate term, as it refers with some degree of accuracy to the frequency of its flowering. For although it is not in flower all the year, yet it is found blooming in every season; a circumstance of rare occurrence, and (the Chinese or Indian Rose excepted) only to be found in the species called the Monthly Rose, from which analogy alone, the Rose of the four Seasons has been by many supposed to be only the Clustered-flowered Monthly under a new name; but to this it has not the slightest affinity except in its foliage, being in every other respect most particularly distinct. It is also a scarcer rose, and by no means so well known as it deserves to be.

The figure was taken from a fine plant in the nursery of Messrs. Loddiges, Hackney.

ROSA Provincialis, blanda.

Blush Province Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

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

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with nearly round seed-buds, flesh-coloured; the peduncles and petioles are hispid and glandular; the prickles of the branches are scattered, and straight; the leaflets are egg-shaped, and villose beneath.

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Of all the numerous variations in the Province Rose, this is the most delicate variety; and as a well-known and much-admired (although only a slight) variety of the Red, it is highly deserving of a separate figure.--This specimen represents the most general character of the Blush Province. As we have two florescent varieties of this pale delicate character, from the same species, whose slight distinctions have no doubt lent their aid to swell the train of superfluous novelty,--the Author is in hopes, by the observations he has already made on the variations of the same Rose by different modes of culture, joined with the further inspection he shall be enabled to make in the course of the ensuing summer, that it will be in his power to ascertain with accuracy the difference between the mere florescent varieties of growth, and those actually distinct in their character, independent of that circumstance.

ROSA Gallica variegata; vel Rosa Mundi.

Striped French Rose; or Rose of the World.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus globosis; floribus magnis, et eleganter variegatis; pedunculis hispidis; caule et petiolis hispidis et aculeatis; foliolis sub-ovatis, subtus villosis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with globular seed-buds; flowers large, and elegantly striped; peduncles hispid; the stem and petioles are hispid and prickly; the leaflets are nearly egg-shaped, and villose beneath.

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This elegant Striped variety of the Rosa Gallica is certainly more attractive than its original, the officinalis. Its fine red stripes acquire a comparatively superior brilliance, by their contrast with the white; from which analogous circumstance we believe the name of Rosa Mundi has been originally derived from a collateral reference to that celebrated lady in the reign of Henry the Second, commonly called Fair Rosamund (signifying Rose-mouth). Thus, like the Rose, the colour of her lips was heightened by the comparative delicacy of her fair complexion; and which the Author has no doubt will be considered as a fair excuse, however remote or questionable the etymology. Like all other variegated Roses, an exactitude of character is never to be expected; we having sometimes seen it more divided than our figure represents, and at others so much less so as to be nearly one half white, and the other red.

The drawing was made from fine plants in the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Brames, Old Brompton.

ROSA Gallica; Var. flore marmoreo.