THE FRENCH ROSE.

(ROSA GALLICA.)

Rosier de Provins.

The French Rose (Rosa gallica of botanists) is an inhabitant of the continent of Europe, growing abundantly in the hedges of France and Italy. In the "Floræ Romanæ " of Sebastiani, published at Rome in 1818, this rose, Rosa sempervirens, and Rosa canina, are said to be the only roses growing naturally in the Papal States. It was one of the earliest roses introduced to our gardens, and is supposed by some to be the Rosa Millesiana of Pliny, so named from its growing abundantly near Miletus in Asia Minor: it has also historical claims of much interest, for the semi-double bright red rose grown in Surrey for the London druggists, and still cultivated extensively in the environs of Provins, to make their celebrated conserve of roses, is, according to a French author*, the red rose, the ancient badge of the House of Lancaster. "Somewhere about the year 1277, a son of the King of England, Count Egmond, who had taken the title of Comte de Champagne, was sent by the King of France to Provins, with troops to avenge the

* L'Ancien Provins, par. Opoix.

murder of the mayor of the city, who had been assassinated in some tumult. He remained at Provins for a considerable period, and on his return to England he took for his device the red rose of Provins, which Thibaut, Comte de Brie, had brought from Syria, on his return from a crusade some years before." The white rose of the House of York was probably our very old semidouble variety of Rosa alba.

Our Provins rose is associated with recollections of the unfortunate House of Bourbon; for when Marie Antoinette came to France in 1770 to espouse Louis XVI., she passed through Nancy, a city about 160 miles to the south-east of Provins, the inhabitants of which presented her with a bed strewed with leaves of the Provins Rose. Alas! her bed was twenty years afterwards more abundantly strewed with thorns by the inhabitants of Paris. Charles X. also, on arriving at Provins on his return from the camp at Luneville, Sept. 21st, 1828, was received in state by the authorities, who deputed twelve young ladies to present him with the flowers and conserves of roses.

The inhabitants boast, that no other roses, even when the same variety is employed, make conserve equal to those grown in the environs of their town; they assert, that towards the end of the seventeenth century, it was sold in India for its weight in gold. 1596 is given by botanists

as the date of its introduction to England; and, owing to its bearing seed freely, it has been the parent of an immense number of varieties, many of the earlier sorts being more remarkable for their expressive French appellations than for any great dissimilarity in their habits or colours. All the roses of this group are remarkable for their compact and upright growth; many for the muliplicity of their petals, and tendency to produce variegated flowers. Some of these spotted and striped roses are very singular and beautiful.

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The formation of the flower, in many of the superior modern varieties of Rosa gallica, is very regular; so that most probably this family will ultimately be the favourite of those florists who show roses for prizes in the manner that dahlias are now exhibited; that is, as full-blown flowers, one flower on a stem; for they bear carriage better, when fully expanded, than any other roses. France, this is called the "Provins Rose ;" and some varieties of it are classed in a separate division, as "Agathe Roses." These have curled foliage, and pale-coloured, compact flowers, remarkable for their crowded petals. That very old striped rose, sometimes improperly called the "York and Lancaster " Rose, seems to have been one of the first variations of Rosa gallica, as it is mentioned by most of our early writers on gardening. It is properly "Rosa mundi:" the true York and Lancaster Rose is a Damask Rose.

To describe a selection of these roses is no easy task, as the plants differ so little in their habits; and their flowers, though very dissimilar in appearance, yet offer so few prominent descriptive characteristics. Only a few years since varieties of this group were reckoned by the hundred. The once-famed collection of the Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, consisting, it was said, of 2000 sorts of roses, owed its fame to nominal varieties of this group. The names were pleasing to the ear, but the eye searched in vain for distinct characters in the flowers. Only a few of these roses are now worth retaining, remarkable for their fine shape and capability of being exhibited as "show roses," i. e. as single blooms, in the manner of dahlias and other flowers. To describe them in as few words as possible, it will perhaps be the most eligible way to give their descriptions in groups thus:-For fine crimson roses we may take Boula de Nanteuil, D'Aguesseau, Gloire de Colmar, Grandissima, Kean, Latour d'Auvergne, Ohl, Schönbrun, Triomphe de Jaussens: these are large, very double, and finely-shaped crimson roses, of slightly different shades. Kean approaches to scarlet, and is really very beautiful.

Letitia, or La Volupté, with flowers most beautifully shaped, of a bright rose colour, and Sanchette, equally fine as regards shape, and of a deep pink, are fine roses. It is perfectly useless, in the present advanced state of rose culture, to burden

these pages with a long list of varieties which are, or ought to be, obsolete. Autumnal roses must very shortly entirely supersede all the summer roses, with the exception of a few select varieties of the Moss rose.

Variegated roses form an interesting section of this family. To that very old semi-double striped rose, growing almost wild in some gardens, and figured in "Les Roses par Redouté," under the name of Rosa Gallica Versicolor, and known in this country as Rosa Mundi*, we owe all our striped roses of this family. Our Village Maid or La Villageoise, now an old variety, was one of the earliest proceeds from the above; this is now a well-known and, in some seasons, a very beautiful striped rose. Œillet Parfait is a rose raised in the West of France, and given out to the world before its qualities were appreciated. It is a hybrid between the Damask and the French rose, so exactly like a carnation in its beautifully-striped flowers as scarcely to be distinguished from one : its ground colour is pale blush, striped distinctly with dark red and crimson: no other variegated rose approaches it in beauty.

Perle des Panachées, with flowers of a pure white striped with lilac and red, is an acquisition;

*How this name came to be attached, I am at a loss to conjecture. Redouté says, "Les Anglais l'ont appelée Rosemonde du nom de la belle et spirituelle maîtresse de Henri II."

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