is that of La Quintyne, published at Paris in 1690, and yet its details of the different species and varieties do not occupy more than a page and a half, while twenty-one pages are given to the culture of tulips, and fifty to pinks. Though he describes two hundred and twenty-five varieties of pinks, and four hundred and thirteen tulips, he mentions only fourteen species and varieties of roses. For a century subsequent to the publication of La Quintyne’s work, the Rose is very little mentioned, either in English or French works, and there is nothing to indicate the existence at that time of many species, two or three only being required for medicine and perfumery. Some of the English collections, however, numbered during that century some twenty-two distinct species, and a number of varieties. In 1762, Linnæus was acquainted with only fourteen species. In 1799, Wildenow, in his Species Plantarum, mentioned thirty-nine; and Persoon, a little later, reached forty-five species; De Candolle, in his Prodromus, published in 1825, increased the number to one hundred and forty-six; and Don, in 1832, makes two hundred and five species. If to these are added those which have been within fifteen years discovered in the Himalaya Mountains, and in other parts of the globe, the number will be greatly increased.

Many of those enumerated by Don should not, in truth, be considered distinct species, and quite a number are nothing more than varieties. In fact, roses are so liable to pass into each other, that botanists are now of the opinion that limits between many of those called species do not exist; a fact which was strongly suspected by Linnæus, when he said, “Species limitibus difficillime circumscribuntur, et forte natura non eos posuit.”

There is much confusion in the genus Rosa, and in the best arrangement there may be many, which, on close examination, would scarcely deserve the name of species. The best scientific work on the Rose is the “Monographia Rosarum,” by Dr. Lindley. This author, and Loudon, we shall follow entirely in our botanical classification. The latter enumerates several other works on the Rose, which are not within our reach.

The Rose is found in almost every part of the northern hemisphere, between the 19th and 70th degrees of latitude.

Captain Fremont, (now General Fremont) in his description of the prairies some five hundred miles west of St. Louis, says, “Everywhere the Rose is met with, and reminds us of cultivated gardens and civilization. It is scattered over the prairies in small bouquets, and, when glittering in the dews and waving in the pleasant breeze of the early morning, is the most beautiful of the prairie flowers.”

It is found from the mountains of Mexico to Hudson’s Bay, from the coast of Barbary to Sweden, in Lapland and Siberia, from Spain to the Indies, China, and Kamschatka. “In Asia, half the species have been found; of the thirty-nine which it produces, eighteen are natives of the Russian dominions and the countries adjacent. Most of these are very similar to the European portion of the genus, and five are common to both Europe and Asia. Of the remainder, one, which is, perhaps, a distinct genus, has been discovered in Persia, fifteen in China, and two of the latter, with four others, in the north of India.”

We shall not here describe all the species mentioned by Lindley and Loudon; but only those which are the parents of our garden sorts. A large part of the species described by these authors cannot be found in any collection in this country; and, in fact, very few possess any interest except to the botanist. The descriptions here given are mainly abbreviated from those of Loudon.

BRACTEATÆ.—Bracted Roses.

This section is readily distinguished by the woolliness of branches and fruit. Leaves dense, usually shining; prickles placed under the stipules in pairs. Sepals simple, or nearly so.

R. bracteata, Wendl.—The Large-bracted Rose.—Macartney Rose. Evergreen. Branches upright. Prickles stout, recurved, in many instances in pairs. Leaflets 5-9, obovate, subserrate, coriaceous, glossy, glabrous. Stipules scarcely attached to the petiole, bristle-shaped, but fringed. Peduncles and calyxes tomentose. Flowers showy, pure white, solitary, nearly sessile. Fruit spherical, orange red. Native of China; growing to the height of five feet or six feet, and flowering from June to October.

A very ornamental shrub, evergreen, with large white flowers, and numerous bright yellow stamens and styles. It flowers abundantly, but is rather tender in England. It succeeds best when trained against a wall.

R. microphylla, Roxb.—The Small-leafleted Rose.—Hoi-tong-hong, Chinese. Stem almost without prickles. Leaflets glossy, sharply serrated, veiny beneath, with densely netted, anastomosing veins. Stipules very narrow, unequal. Calyx densely invested with prickles. Sepals short, broadly ovate, bristly, ending in a point. Prickles having at the base two longitudinal furrows. Flowers very large, double, and of a delicate blush color. Native of China; growing to the height of two feet or three feet, and flowering from August to October.

PIMPINELLIFOLIÆ. Lindl.

Plants bearing crowded, nearly equal, prickles, or unarmed. Bractless, rarely bracteate. Leaflets ovate or oblong. Sepals connivent, permanent. Disk almost wanting.

This section is essentially different from the last in habit, but in artificial characters they approach very nearly. It, however, may be distinguished by the great number of leaflets, which vary from seven to thirteen, and even to fifteen, instead of from five to seven. The flowers are also without bracts, except in some species not mentioned here. These, having connivent permanent sepals, cannot be confounded with the preceding division; nor, on account of their disk, with the following. There is no instance of stipular prickles in the present tribe. The sepals are entire, or nearly so.

R. sulphurea, Ait.—The Sulphur-colored Rose.—The Double Yellow Rose. Synonyms. R. hemispherica, Herm. R. glaucophylla, Ehrh. Rosa lutea flore pleno, Rai. Hist. R. lutea, Brot. Stipules linear, divaricate, dilated at the apex. Leaflets glaucous, flattish. Tube hemispherical. Stem prickles unequal, scattered. Flowers large, of a fine transparent yellow, always double. Native of the Levant; growing to the height of from four feet to ten feet, and flowering in July.

This sort does not flower freely, except in open, airy situations and trained against a wall, exposed to the north or east, rather than to the south. Its flower buds are apt to burst on one side before they expand, and, consequently, to become deformed; to prevent this, the blossom buds should be thinned, and care taken that they have abundance of light and air. Watering it freely in the flowering season is also found advantageous, and the shoots in general ought not to be shortened. This beautiful species is said to flower freely, if grafted on the musk cluster at eight feet or ten feet from the ground; or it will do well on the China rose. It is grown in great abundance in Italy, where its flowers produce a magnificent effect, from their large size, doubleness, and brilliant yellow color. It is one of the oldest inhabitants of our gardens, though the exact year of its introduction is unknown. “Ludovico Berthema tells us, in 1503, that