Part 7

French Rose; Marbled-flowered Variety.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

ROSA, germinibus globosis; floribus magnis, marmoreis; pedunculis hispidis; caule petiolisque hispido-aculeatis; foliolis sub-ovatis, subtus villosis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ROSE, with globular seed-buds; the flowers are large, and of a marbled character; peduncles hispid; the stem and petioles are hispidly prickly; the leaflets are nearly egg-shaped, and villous beneath.

* * * * *

This Marbled Variety of the officinalis, or French Red Rose, is, like the Striped, a variety of colour only: for although all the three Roses appear distinct from each other when in flower; yet, when out of bloom, it is scarcely possible to distinguish the one from the other. We have sometimes observed the foliage of this variety more undulated or waved than the others; a trifling difference, if it is even a constant character;--but most likely a mere casualty of growth. It is exactly of the same bushy habit as the other two; and, like them, equally subject to mildew in the autumn.

Our drawing was made from a fine plant, in luxuriant bloom, at the nursery of Mr. Shailer, King’s Road, Chelsea.

ROSA Provincialis, semi-duplex.

Semi-double Province Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

Rosa germinibus subrotundis; pedunculis petiolisque hispidis et glandulosis; floribus semi-duplicibus; aculeis ramorum sparsis, rectis, sub-reflexis; foliolis ovatis, subtus villosis, serraturis glandulosis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

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

* * * * *

This fine Semi-double Province Rose is at present but little known, being nearly of as recent a date as the Single, although not quite so rare--but in beauty by no means inferior; and when regarded as a connecting link in the symmetrical arrangement of this very numerous species, it will doubtless be considered as a valuable acquisition. Amidst their numerous variations of flower, very little if any difference is observable in the foliage, except what is incident to the health or age of the plant. The leaves are invariably composed of leaflets of from one to three pairs, with a terminating or end one: but those having three pairs are mostly confined to the lower part of the plant; and frequently those leaves at the base of the footstalks of the flowers have only the abortive rudiments of what would have been one pair of leaflets, had not the luxuriance of its blossoms absorbed the nourishment that would otherwise have brought them to maturity.

The figure was made from a plant at the nursery of Mr. Shailer, King’s Road.

ROSA nana, minor.

Small Dwarf, or Pompone Rose.

CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.

Rosa germinibus subrotundis, parvifloris, incarnatis, in medio profunde rubris; foliolis ovatis, acutis, et parvis; subtus villosis, marginibus serrulatis, glandulosis; caule et petiolis aculeatis; aculeis ramorum sparsis, rectis.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Rose with roundish seed-buds, small-flowered, flesh-coloured, and of a deep red in the centre. The leaflets are ovate, sharp-pointed, and small; downy beneath, with small sawed glandular margins. The stem and petioles are prickly: the prickles of the branches are scattered, and straight.

* * * * *

This elegant minor variety of the Dwarf Rose has been, and still continues to be, regarded as superior to most, equal to any, and surpassed by no one, of this enchanting genus at present known. It is an evident variety of the Rose de Meaux, an equally beautiful Rose, but whose flowers are larger, and deficient in the fine deep red eye;--the principal specific distinction, in the present plant, and which is thought to give it a decided superiority. But whether this distinction be a permanent character, is certainly at present a matter of doubt; for in several instances we have seen it lose this central distinction, and attain the full height of its original. Yet against this observation we are acquainted with two exceptions: one of them, a plant in the nursery of Mr. Shailer; the other, a plant in the nursery of Messrs. Loddige; neither of these plants having for years grown beyond a foot in height, nor have the proprietors ever been able to propagate them. It is therefore not improbable, that upon comparing them with the present figure when in fine bloom, there may be found a sufficient distinction to enable us to subjoin another figure of it, under the title of minima, or smallest variety.

The drawing was made from a plant at the nursery of Messrs. Whitley and Brames, Old Brompton.

ROSA nana, minor; Var. æqualiflora.

Small Dwarf Rose; Equal-flowered Variety.