(Styles six or eight. Root fibrous. Stem three or four feet high, furrowed, leafy. Flowers white, small, very fragrant. Fl. Brit. E.) Stem angular, reddish. Leaves bright green above, white underneath, irregularly serrated; the terminal leafit divided into three segments. Flowers yellowish white, numerous. Calyx segments and petals sometimes four. Capsules five to eight, but mostly six, twisted spirally together. MEADOW-SWEET. QUEEN OF THE MEADOWs. (Irish: Airgia Lovaghra. Welsh: Erivain; Chwys Arthur. Gaelic: Lus-chneas-Chuchullainn. P. June-Aug.

E.) Moist meadows, and banks of rivers.

POLYGYNIA.

RO'SA. Petals five: Cal. urn-shaped, five-cleft, fleshy, contracted at the neck so as to form at length a coloured berry of one cell, opening at the top: Seeds many, hispid, dispersed in the pulp.

(The Editor has admitted a large accession to the species of this beautiful and interesting genus of plants; not, indeed, so much upon his own entire conviction of their permanency, as in conformity with the opinions of several eminent Botanists, whose opportunities for observation, and attention to the subject, merit every consideration. So far as the identity of the respective plants could be ascertained, the reformed specific characters of Smith have been adopted, while the descriptive details have been carefully compared with those of the most accurate recent authorities. The tribe of Roses is become intricate, and in no small degree perplexing, from the difficulty of pointing out characteristics at once discriminative

*(The leaves and tops of this plant are used in medicine as an astringent, and will tan leather. In the few countries where primitive manners are yet to be observed, the custom of scattering fragrant herbs on floors remains; and for such purpose Meadow-sweet has ever been highly extolled, as thus by Gerard: "The leaves and flowers far excel all other strowing herbes, for to decke up houses, to strowe in chambers, hals, and banketting houses in the sommer time; for the smell thereof maketh the hart merrie, delighteth the senses; neither doth it cause headach, or loathsomnesse to meate, as some other sweete smelling herbes do." In language less uncouth has it also been celebrated:

"Mid scents as varied as the scene,

Distinct is thine, fair Meadow's Queen,
With buds of pearly dye;

Graceful thy foliage and thy hue,
In softest shades of green and blue,
Attracting still a closer view,

They fix the admiring eye." S. H.

Some compare the scent to that of Hawthorn, but to our senses it is more sickly; "While in the moistened plain

The Meadow-sweet its luscious fragrance yields."

Varieties with double blossoms and striped leares are produced in gardens. E.) The flowers infused in boiling water give it a fine flavour, which rises in distillation. Sheep aud swine eat it. Goats are extremely fond of it. Cows and horses refuse it. Sphinx scellata and Filipendula feed on both species. Linn.

(Derived from the Celtic rós, or rhos, the primary root of which may be rhood, or rhudd, red. E.)

and invariable. The leaves, (from which a true specific difference ought to be deduced,) in many instances too nearly resemble each other; whilst the hips, or fruit, which have by some been deemed of primary consequence, unfortunately preserve no absolute character either as to form, colour, smoothness, or roughness; and even were that not the case, could indicate their respective species only during a short period of the year. Sir J. E. Smith and Mr. Woods attach considerable importance to the presence or absence of setæ, (glandular bristles,) on the stems or branches of Roses; and, in a secondary degree, to the form of the aculei, (prickles,) whether straight and slender, suddenly originating from a broad depressed base; or hooked, dilated gradually downward, and more or less compressed. Much stress has likewise been laid on the circumstance of pubescence, its absence, presence, and quantity; yet a careful observer may perceive, in this respect, every gradation. Linnæus himself even doubted whether any certain limits between the species and varieties of this genus had been prescribed by nature. However valuable may be the observations of Smith, Lindley, Woods, Hooker, Winch, and Swartz, cultivation alone seems likely to determine these obscure points, and to remove this opprobrium from the science. E.)

(1) Fruit globular.

R. ARVEN'SIS. (Fruit globose or elliptical, smooth: flower-stalks glandular: calyx pinnate, deciduous: prickles hooked, scattered: leafits simply serrated: floral receptacle slightly convex: styles combined, smooth. Sm. E.)

(Hook. Fl. Lond. 123. E.)—E. Bot. 189-Walc.-J. B. ii. 44. 1. (Fruit scarlet, round or oblong. Flowers more cup-shaped than any other British Rose, white with a yellow base, sometimes pink. The styles, united in a long smooth column, distinguish this from all British species except R. systyla, from which it differs in having long trailing shoots, not stout assurgent ones, which are of a dull glaucous green, generally tinged with purple, and not of the bright green colour of R. systyla. Hook. E.) Nearly allied to, if not the same as, the garden Ayrshire Rose. WHITE TRAILING DOG ROSE. (Welsh: Ciros gwyn. E.) Hedges and heaths. This is the most common Rose in the west of Yorkshire, and about Manchester. Have not seen it within fifty miles of Darlington. Mr. Robson. (King's Park. Mr. Neill. Grev. Edin. In Anglesey. Welsh Bot. Prevalent in Devonshire. E.) S. July.

Var. 2. Huds. Wild Dog Rose, with only one flower. Ray Syn. Indic. Between Hackney and London, and Bishop's Wood, ib. (In woods and hedges at Friar's Goose, near Gateshead; and between Sadberg and Norton, Durham. Mr. W. Backhouse, jun. In woods at St. Anthony's, and Elswick, near Newcastle, Northumberland. Mr. Winch. E.) R. 3PINOSIS'SIMA. (Flower-stalks without bracteas, mostly smooth, as well as the simple calyx: fruit globose, abrupt, somewhat depressed prickles of the stem straight, unequal, numerous, intermixed with glandular bristles: leafits roundish, smooth, with simple serratures. Sm. E.)

E. Bot. 187-Fl. Dan. 398-Ger. 1088-J. B. ii. 41. 1—Park. 1018, 8— Clus. i. 116. 1-Dod. 187-Ger. Em. 1270. 3—J. B. ii. 40. 2. (A dwarf, compact, dark, (sometimes reddish,) green bush, with creeping roots. Branches short, stiff, much divided, beset by very dense, unequal prickles or seta, some of the former being usually falcate. Leaves

close together, quite free from pubescence. Stipule either narrow or dilated, of nearly equal breadth. Petiols setigerous and prickly. Leaflets about seven, bright green, flat, simply serrated, orbicular, or nearly so. Flowers solitary, without bracteas, cyathiform, blush-coloured, (white, or cream-coloured, E.) Peduncles naked, or rough with glands or setœ, as are the calycine segments, which are short and entire. Tube ovate, or nearly round, naked. Petals emarginate, concave. Dish not thickened. Styles villous, distinct. Fruit ovate, or nearly round, black or dark purple, crowned by the connivent or somewhat spreading segments of the calyx. Lindl. Fruit sometimes slightly spinous. The plant occasionally very diminutive, and rarely exceeding two feet in height. E.) BURNET ROSE. PIMPERNEL ROSE. (Welsh: Mwccog. R. spinosissima. Linn. Sp. Pl. R. pimpinellifolia. Linn. Syst. Nat. E.) Heaths and sandy places. Hedges near Yarmouth, frequent. Mr. Woodward. Perran Downs, Cornwall. Mr. Watt. Hedges and ditch banks about Worcester. Dr. Stokes. Frequent in the sandy country about Bewdley. (North shore, Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. Plentifully on the Eastern Cliffs of Portland. Pulteney. By Duddingston Loch, near Edinburgh. Lightf. Frequent on hilly ground in the neighbourhood of Warwick. Perry. In woods about Derwent-water. Mr. Winch In hedges near Teignmouth. E.) P. June-July.*

Var. 2. (R. Ciphiana. E.) Blossoms red, striped with white. Sibb. Scot. t. 2. Lightf. (Fruit red. Winch. E.)

Ciphian Rose.

Links at Cockenzie, near Edinburgh. Maughan. (In several hedges in the parishes of Llangaffo, and Llanddeinier, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.)

Var. 3. Fruit-stalks prickly; flowers cream-colour, changing to white. (The stems appear to be still more strongly armed with spines than the common kind. E.)

Specimen from Lanscale Haws, Lancashire; sent by Mr. Atkinson, who informs me that it covers several acres of sand, to the exclusion of every other vegetable. (The Editor has recently received the same from the hills near the sea at Aberystwith. E.)

(R. RUBELLA. Fruit globose, somewhat bristly: flower-stalks bristly: stem spreading, clothed with straight, slender spines: leafits elliptical, smooth: segments of the calyx entire. E. Bot. 2521.

* The ripe fruit is eaten by children, and has a grateful sub-acid taste. The juice, diluted with water, dyes silk and muslin of a peach colour; with the addition of alum a deep violet; but it has little effect on woollen or linen. Its dwarfish growth, and the singular elegance of its little leaves, which resemble those of the upland Burnet, entitle it to a place in the flower garden. Indeed it would appear to be a favourite with the French florists, for M. Desportes informs us they have no less than 123 distinct varieties.

(The charms of the Ciphian var. having elicited an Ode Laudatory from Sir R. Sibbald ; we extract a descriptive portion :

"Multiplex qualis Rosa splendidisque
Lineis albis decorat Ruborem
Caryophyllis, nitet in Tulipis

Purpura qualis.

Ne terat saltu petulante Vaga
Ales, audax arripiat manusve,
Spiculis densis Rosa tuta Sæv um

Vulnerat hostem." &c. E.)

Differs from the common R. spinosissima in being a small spreading bush, whereas the flowering stems of that species are strong and erect, more in the manner of R. canina. E. Bot.

Fruit invariably pear-shaped and scarlet; the shrub appears a link between R. spinosisissima and R. alpina, the latter of which it resembles in habit. Winch.

RED-FRUITED DWARF ROSE. Banks of the Dee about Abergaldy. Mr. Anderson. Linn. Tr. vol. xi. p. 244. Gathered by Mr. Winch on the seabeach near Shields Law, in the county of Durham; and supposed by him to be the same as Mr. Atkinson's plant from Lanscale Haws, with which, in foliage, it precisely accords, but in the specimens communicated to us, is much less spinous, both the fruit-stalks and stems of our plant being in a most remarkable manner thickly beset with strong prickles, in length exceeding the diameter of the parts to which they are attached. E.)

(R. INVOLUTA. Fruit globose, as also the flower-stalks, very prickly: stems armed with numerous straight prickles: petals closed inwards. Fl. Brit.

E. Bot. 2068.

Resembles R. spinosissima in its manner of growth, and in the shade rises to a tall shrub. Winch. Petals whitish, tinged with red, not expanded. Fl. Brit. In specimens communicated by favour of Mr. Winch, who observes, "the petals are only sometimes involute, generally expanding like those of other Roses," the leafits are four times the size of those of either R. spinosissima or rubella, and the spines less densely set than in those species. R. Sabini appears scarcely to differ from this, except in being taller, which may probably be accounted for by difference of situation; and under the same species may rank R. Doniana, (Woods, in Linn. Tr. vol. xii.) less extensively creeping at the root, and less prickly in the upper part.

PRICKLY UNEXPANDED ROSE. R. spinosissima, var. With. Ed. 5. Dis-
covered in the Western Islands of Scotland by Messrs. Walker and
J. Mackay: also found by Mr. Winch in Heaton Dean, below Benton
Bridge, Northumberland.'
S. July. E.)

R. VILLO'SA. (Fruit globose, half as long as the segments of the calyx, bristly as well as the flower-stalks: prickles of the stem straight: leaflets elliptic, ovate, downy on both sides: calyx permanent. When R. villosa grows on sterile soil, or in a bleak situation, it assumes the stunted habit and full red flower as represented in E. Bot. 2459. This I consider as nothing but a variety of R. villosa; (not of Swartz, which is supposed to be an exotic, the Apple Rose of our gardens,) and its fruit varies from perfect smoothness to a considerable degree of roughness, and the bush altering in mode of growth according to soil and exposure. Winch.

SOFT-LEAVED ROUND-FRUITED ROSE. R. villosa. Woods, in Linn. Tr. v. xii. Sm. Eng. Fl. R. villosa. var. 2. With. Ed. 6. R. villosa, ẞ mollissima. Willd. R. villosa, ß. Fl. Brit. R. mollis. E. Bot. R. tomentosa. B. Hook. Lindl. Extremely common about Newcastle. Mr. Winch. Between Edinburgh and Ravelston Wood. Sir J. E. Smith. Between Millbrook and Crafthole, Devon. Rev. J. Pike Jones. Not uncommon in the mountainous districts of England, Scotland, and Wales. E.)

(Nearly resembling the above is R. subglobosa, Sm. Eng. Fl. R. tomentosa, var. and . Woods. The whole plant, except the prickles "conical, hooked, compressed," and the calyx "copiously pinnate," bears more resemblance to R. villosa than tomentosa, and is particularly remarkable for its "large, globular, half-ripe fruit." Sm. E.)

(R. GRACILIS. Flower-stalks bristly, generally bracteated: branches globular: fruit and calyx bristly: larger prickles hooked: leafits doubly serrated, hairy on both sides.

E. Bot. 583.

Flowers generally solitary, but occasionally two or three together: fruit scarlet.

Var. 2. Fl. alb. with the segments of the calyx usually divided. It is by far the most elegant of the British Roses, and, were it not for its hooked prickles, comes very near to R. involuta, var. ß. Sabini.

TALL BRISTLY ROSE. R. gracilis. Woods, in Linn. Tr. v. xii. Sm. Eng. Fl. R. villosa. E. Bot. At Baydales, near Darlington. Mr. J. Backhouse. In hedges three miles and a half from Keswick, on the Lorton or Cockermouth road, ascending Finlatter, where Mr. Woods observed it; and at Pooley Bridge. Var. 2, in Ennerdale, or between that and Lampleugh Cross. Winch. Geog. Distr. E.)

(Mr. Edwin Lees announces, in Mag. Nat. Hist. i. 394, a more southerly station than has hitherto been assigned to this species, viz. in thickets near Cruckbarrow Hill, Worcester, 1828. E.)

(R. TOMENTOSA. Fruit broadly elliptical, bristly: calyx copiously pinnate prickles slightly curved: leafits ovate, acute, more or less downy. Sm.

Hook. Fl. Lond. 124-E. Bot. 990.

A smaller plant in all its parts than R. villosa, resembling in general habit R. canina, but that the leaves are pubescent on both sides, with a greyish cast. Fruit scarlet. Petals whitish at the base, above of a beautiful rose-colour. Fl. Brit. Fruit very different from that of R. villosa. Winch. Smith adds, "I have seen this plant, on removal to a rich garden soil, assume so rank and prickly a habit as scarcely to be recognized, and even in wild situations the pubescence varies greatly; still I find no considerable alteration in the division of the calyx, nor in the elliptical shape of its tube." Woods enumerates no less than fifteen varieties. DOWNY-LEAVED DOG ROSE. (Welsh: Rhosyn lledwlanog. R. tomentosa. Woods. Lindl. Sm. With. Ed. 6. Winch. Purt. R. villosa. Var. 2. Huds. R. villosu. Var. With. Ed. 5. Wild Briar, or Dog Rose, with large prickly heps. Ray. Hedges, common. Ray. Woodward. Near London. Hudson. Shropshire, Wales, Norfolk. Withering. Bootle, near Liverpool. Mr. Shepherd. By no means rare in the north. By Sheriff Hill waggon-way, near Gateshead; at Hamsterley, near Medomsley, and in the lane between High and Low Team, Durham; also about Darlington and Keswick. Mr. Winch. Near Brent, Devon. Rev. J. Pike Jones. Near Dyffryn, in the parish of Penmynydd, Anglesey. 'Welsh Bot. S. June-July. E.)

(Var. 2. Fruit globose, bristly.

E. Bot. 1896.