STRIPED ROSE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 936, 5 December 1933, Page 1

STRIPED ROSE.

Discovered by Accident in Melbourne. A MYSTERY OF NATURE. (Special to the “Star.”) MELBOURNE, November 10. A never-ending process of budding, in which he persisted year after year for t wen tv years, is the secret behind the perfection of the beautiful striped Fire Fly rose which was the outstanding feature of yesterday’s rose show at the Melbourne Town Hall. Although Mr B. V. Rossi, the exhibitor, developed the rose by meticulous care and patience, he discovered it by accidejnt. After twenty-five years, during which he specialised in rose culture, Mr Rossi found that one variety, Rosomane Narcisse Thomas, had developed one abnormal bloom—the striped rose that he has perpetuated and named Fire Fly. Abnormal blooms known to rosarians as “ sports ” are comparatively rare, and their sudden evolution is a mystery of nature. “ Dull Ancestors.” Mr Rossi said to-day that their origin could not be explained. Hundreds of years of evolution might separate the strange and beautiful offspring from its respectable but dull ancestors. Charmed by the distinctive beauty of the new sport. Mr Rossi determined to “ fix ” it, and the task has extended over twenty years. The process involved budding—the removal of the eyes or buds from the stem bearing the abnormal bloom, and working them on to stocks of Rose Indie Major and Rosa Canina. The parent bush bore blooms of a plain red colour with a hint of yellow at the base of the petals. The sport was a glorious bloom of deep orange splashed with lurid red. Notwithstanding every care, the plants propagated from the sport stem tended to revert to the original parent. With each new budding, a larger percentage “ fixed ” several years ago, Mr Rossi continued to propagate his new rose “ just to be certain. . \ esterday, in the spring of 1933, after twenty years’ careful nurturing, the Fire Fly made its debut at the Melbourne Town Flail—a fixed sport and a strikingly decorative bloom. Of medium size, the variety is an upright vigorous bush grower of five to six feet. It may be placed on the market next year.