Entwined in man’s history

Press, 17 November 1977, Page 11

Entwined in man’s history

The rose, known as the “Queen of Powers,” has ruled for at least 2500 years and has served as the emblem of England, the insignia for kings and garland for emperors. Fossil roses found in the Miocene deposits in the Baltics can be seen in the Museum of Roses near Paris, along with other ossil roses from France and from Oligocene deposits in Colorado, U.S.A. Some of the buds and leaves of these fossils are recognisable as being identical with species still growing in modern gardens. A relationship has existed between roses and man since very early times. Men enhanced the walls of their palaces with painted roses as early as 2000 B.C. However, the earliest known depiction of a rose in the excavated

palace of Knosses in Crete had six petals instead of the usual five. The rose in its turn has been developed by men whose observation, patience and ingenuity, have produced, from the simple original forms, still the basis of well-used emblems, the handsome examples of the hybrid-tea range of today.

Yet the rose was more than an ornament. The Red Rose (Rosa rubra), the foundation species of most of our garden roses was used in religious ceremonies in 12th century B.C. by Persian magi and Medean fire worshippers. Later it was apparently cultivated by the Greeks and was described by Pliny as a vivid red.

China cultivated roses for their beauty, while in Europe their medicinal qualities were considered important and roses are reputed to have made their European debut in the herb garden of a monastery.

“Strewing roses were used for covering the rough floors of those times. Stills for making rose-water were prized household items and were handed down from one generation to the next. Medicines were produced, and food flavourings, often used with meat or fish. In Elizabethan days, s smooth, oily, potent drink was made from rose leaves. The high food value of rose hips was known in the days of Richard II although vitamin C had not been heard of then. To Persia goes the credit for first distilling roses for perfume, the original “Attar of Roses” times its weight in gold, times its weight in gold. Later, in the thirteenth century a perfume industry grew up in Provins, in France, and persisted for six centuries. This industry owes its beginnings to the discovery tat a certain variety of Rosa rubra had the valuable chemical property of retaining the perfume in its petals through the process of drying and being reduced to powder. Conserves and confections of roses were developed by apothecaries of the period. Gifts of conserves and dried roses were made by the town of Provins to Joan of Arc received such a gift.

Famed Provins roses were sent to England and

te India, and in el 860. a considerable quantity of rose petals went to the United States. Because so much chemical research and development was connected with Rosa rubra, it became known as the Apothecary's Rose. It was said to have been brought to Provins tn ihe first place by the King of Navarre on his return from one of his crusades and it is probable that other varieties such as Musk and Damask roses reached Europe in the hands of returning crusaders. This fascination received a nexv impetus towards the end of the eighteenth century when the China rose was introduced to England. Ancient roses normally had only one flowering, early in the

exalted personages and documents record that summer, and the advent of the China rose, which had been in cultivation in the east for a thousand years or more brought about a revolution in flowering habit, due to a Mendelian gene in the China rose which gave continuous bloom from early symmer to late autumn. These roses were potentially perpetual and in some climates would flower all year round. As roses flourished more widely, as new species were discovered, collections and records of this sought after family of plants began to appear. The most famous of these collections was brought about, by Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon, around 1800. Under the patronage of the Empress and urged by her intense interest in roses, Dupont, the Director of Luxembourg Gardens at Paris began to assemble what become the gratest collection ever seen and this garden was established at La Malmaison. It contained then.

only species, a tew sports and a very few accidental hybrids, as these were the only roses known. In 1812 Dupont listed two hundred and eighteen varieties. Ihe first ever display of rose blooms was made from this garden. From 1817 to 1824, the now universally known Frenchman. Redoute was producing his three volume edition of “Les Roses,” a monumental work with beautifully painted illustrations and a further great step was taken in the growing appreciation of the rose. Ihe introduction of ihe China rose tßosi chinensisl was bx 1630, having it’s effect on early hybridising and it was at this time that one of the varieties of Rosa chinensis. the Blush S wee i-scented Chinese Rose, was crossed with the Yellow’ lea-scented Rose, Rosa Odorata. to give us our first Tes Rose. The name “Tea Rose” max have come from its scent w’hich xvas said to have resembled tea, or it may have had some connection with the parent roses having been brought to England by tea traders. The place and popularity of tse rose tn ouman affairs was now’ fully assured and it extended its influence to ah races and climates.