THE HERB AGE is the official journal of the Herb Society of Victoria. It is published every month except January and sent by post to every member.

 

One of the main contributors to The Herb Age is Colline Muir. Colline’s articles are always well researched, always informative and often quirky.

 

Here’s Colline’s recent article on The Rose.

 

The rose, by any other name, may smell as sweet but there are indeed many other names for this, possibly, the most loved of all flowers. Some of them are: Rosa (Italian, Spanish), Roza (Russian), Chiang-wei, Chin-ying-tzu (Chinese), Ouert (uncertain), Rhodon (Greek), Rose (French, Danish, German and Norwegian).

 

Roses are confined to the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic to temperate and subtropical Europe, North Africa, Asia and North America.

 

There are a number of commonly cultivated species of the genus. Most are deciduous; a few are evergreen; upright or climbing shrubs, branches mostly more or less prickly or bristly. Leaves are alternate, odd-pinnate, with stipules present. Sepals and petals are 5 to many, stamens and pistils many; the receptacle is urn-shaped, becoming berry-like and fleshy at maturity, (called a hip); seeds are one to many achines.

 

Whole libraries of books have been written about the rose, subject and legend, art, literature, heraldry, horticulture, perfumery, cooking, medicine and the household arts. The parts used are the petals, hips, leaves and occasionally the wood and bark.

 

The genus Rosa contains about 125 species of northern hemisphere plants. Eighteen to twenty-five of these are found in North America, ninety-five in Asia and twelve mainly in Europe. There are none in Australia. Over 10,000 cultivars have been developed from many species.

 

Roses have been grouped into categories according to botanical affinities, but such a degree of hybridisation has occurred that exact parentage of the many thousands of cultivars cannot always be determined. Many species have contributed to today’s multitude of varieties. Writing in Tamania in 1838, Daniel Bunce says that ‘there are now upwards of 1500 sorts of roses in England, obtained chiefly by the indefatigable efforts of the French.’

 

The earliest recorded roses are fossils from Alaska, dating from the Eocene period, between 25 and 60 million years ago.

 

The Greek poetess Sappho, about 600 BC, called the rose the ‘queen of flowers’, but in Persia, it was said Allah gave that name to the white rose, after the flowers of Heaven complained that their queen, the lotus, slept all day.

 

Vishnu, one of the supreme trilogy of Hindu gods, formed his consort Lakshmi, from 108 large and 1,008 small rose petals. Homer wrote of roses. The Romans used roses to strew their banquet halls, decorate their tables, garland their heads (as a protection against hangovers), to flavour their foods and wines and fill their pillows. It is said that Nero spent the equivalent $70,000 on rose petals for a banquet and that several guests were suffocated under them. This is not the origin of the term sub rosa, where anything said ‘under the rose’, especially in vino veritas, must not be repeated elsewhere. This came about because Cupid gave a rose to Harpocrates, god of silence, as a bribe to ensure he did not disclose the amours of Venus. Thus the rose became a symbol of silence. Sculptured ceiling roses in banquet halls replaced a real rose, to remind guests of their obligations not to repeat elsewhere what they had heard sub rosa. In 1526 a rose was placed over confessionals.

 

In the tenth century the Arab physician Avicenna distilled oil of roses, predating the charming account of the discovery of attar (or otto) of roses in 1612 by the Indian Princess Nur-mahal. Following her wedding with the Mogul Emperor Shah Jehangir Khan, she and her husband were rowed across a lake strewn with rose petals. The princess, noticing an oily film on the water, dipped her hand into it and found it was deliciously perfumed.

 

Constituents of oil of roses include geraniol, citronellol, rhodinol, ethyl alcohol, farnesol, citral, eugenol and carvone. These are also found in other plants and, owing to the enormous cost of producing genuine rose oil, are often extracted and combined to simulate genuine rose oil. The most commonly used plants are: Cymbopogon martinii, Indian Grass; Pelargonium odoratissimum; P. graveolens; P. ‘Fragrans”; P. ‘Radula'; Guajacum officinalis and G. sanctum.

 

There are three basic types of rose perfume, that of the Rosa centifolia, cabbage roses, Rosa damascina, damask roses and Rosa indica, tea roses.

 

There are also said to be twenty-five distinct rose scents, as well as mixtures of these. They include nasturtium, orange, wine, marigold, parsley, geranium, peppers, bay, anise, banana, cinnamon, apricot, clove and myrrh. The scent is generally produced in the petals; the more petals, the more scent. Chemical changes take place according to time of day and weather conditions, which may facilitate or inhibit the release of scent.

 

The hips are used medicinally mainly for their high vitamin C content, but this varies between species and is also influenced by climate; higher in cool climates, lower in hot. 100 g of hips of Rosa haematodes contains 2,900 mg of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Cultivated garden roses contain relatively little.

 

Constituents of the hips include: citric, malic and nicotinic acids; sugars; mucilage; carotine; tannins; vitamins A, B complex, C; E and K; organic salts, pectin, tannins. The seeds are rich in oils. An infusion may be used as a tea to increase resistance to disease, especially the common the cold.

 

In the language of flowers the rose represents love; carmine rose, sorrow or mourning; pink rose, youth or beauty; yellow rose, envy, silence or unfaithfulness; white rose, innocence or purity; cabbage rose, grace.

 

Roses may be propagated by seed, suckers, cuttings and budding. Seed may take over a year to germinate, although refrigeration for a few weeks before planting assists germination. Cultivars are commonly budded onto a stock plant such as Rosa canina or R. multiflora, as seedlings seldom breed true to the parent. New varieties are selected from many hundreds of seedlings, most of which are rejected. Roses are tolerant of most soils but should have good drainage and do best in full sun. To avoid disease, sunny areas with good air movement should be chosen.

 

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