New roses from China

Section 7 of the subgenus Eurosa, that is to say, the Chinese, Chinenses includes three species whose introduction in England, four plants of Rosa chinensis Slater's Crimson China (= Miss Lowe's) in 1772, Parsons 'pink China (= Old blush China) in 1773, Hume's blush tea scented China in 1809 and Parks' yellow tea scented China (R. indica sulphurea) in 1835, completely changes the history of European cultivated rose up with the character of the flowering. After 1781, the Bengal still happens as red rose. These are not wild species, but varieties grown in the gardens of China, Rosa chinensis selections or hybrids of Rosa chinensis × Rosa gigantea which adds a yellow chinensis Rosa Park's Yellow Tea-scented China in 1824. Their intersection with the roses of Europe will bring up hundreds of new roses.
It is the Duchess of Portland who gets the first cross with a red rose in China: "Portland roses" were born. At the same time, Louisiana, crossing a musk rose and a rose of China given by Louis Claude Hazel is the origin of "Noisette roses" (Blush Noisette, Mrs. Alfred Carrière). Reunion and the intersection of Rosa chinensis Old blush and a rose of Damascus Four Seasons sign the late arrival of the "Bourbon roses" (Zéphirine Drouhin, Souvenir de la Malmaison).

The roses in the Middle East

Thibaud IV, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre returns in 1240 of a crusade that has not allowed him to reach the holy places but relates Rosa gallica officinalis it does grow in Provins, hence its name "Provins rose "10.
Then there are the roses of Damascus who reported the Crusades. They are of two kinds, early, hybrids of Rosa gallica Rosa × Phoenicia and late, hybrids of Rosa gallica Rosa moschata ×
At the end of the sixteenth century, on the one hand Rosa foetida is imported from Persia to Europe, and on the other hand rose from Europe arrive in North America where there virginania Rosa, Rosa and Rosa carolina setigera. Until then mutations and hybridizations are spontaneous. Thus, in the seventeenth century, a transformation of Rosa gallica shows the "roses hundred sheets" Rosa centifolia with a mutation in the eighteenth century gives the "sparkling rose '(Rosa moschata).
In the General History of Plants by John Gerard, published in 1633, are mentioned only eighteen kinds of roses, red, pink and white (Rosa x alba) until the end of the eighteenth century there was in Europe and the Mediterranean some thirty species.

Antiquity and Middle Ages

The roses are grown in China and Persia 5000 years and Greece since the Bronze Age.
Ancient literature and poetry often refer to the pink without it is easy to identify the species or variety with certainty.
Herodotus records that King Midas in the sixth century BC. BC, when it was driven from Lydia by Persian armies, won his roses in his exile in Macédoine6. And Greek naturalist Theophrastus described a rose many petals, a form of Rosa canina, cultivated in gardens. It describes the red, pink and white roses, and notes the fragrance of the rose of Cyrene.
Pliny the Elder in his Natural History describes twenty kinds of roses named by the name of their place of origin. Their descriptions allow suggestions identification7:
the pink Praeneste seems Rosa gallica versicolor;
Pink Campania is a form of Rosa × alba semiplena;
the pink Tachys is a form of rosa damascena;
the red rose of Miletus ten petals is a variety of Rosa gallica;
The Pink Pangea is another Rosa gallica;
the pink is a Alabanda Rosa × alba;
Fall rose like Rosa sempervirens;
Rosa is Spinolea pimpinellifolia Myriacantha;
Rosa gallica officinalis is then the source of rose essence that the Romans used in large quantities as the petals. They make wreaths and garlands of petals strewn on the ground and fill cushions. At banquets, if a rose is suspended tribute to Harpocrates, the god of silence, guests must keep secret the words exchanged "under the rose" 8. The Romans used such quantity that the culture of the rose is an economically important activity locally and Rome is also important for boat roses of Egypt (which is then the most important export to Rome), Carthage and Cyrenaica (now Libya). The Paestum Rose sung by Virgil is probably R. damascena rose and Campani, R. alba.
Thus the life century BC. BC to the second century, during this period of Greek and Latin rule, the flow of Persian roses in England, Greece, Egypt.
In the Middle Ages as to the ancient period, the rose is very present in the secular and religious society, but the data do not allow precise identification: the sixth century, convents grow roses, King Childebert I have a rose (roses Paradise after Bishop Fortunat) in its domain to Saint-Germain-des-Prés9. And in the eighth century, Charlemagne Capitulaire From Villis quotes roses among the plants to grow. In the twelfth century on the eve of the Crusades, Albert the Great note as cultivated roses Rosa rubiginosa, Rosa canina, Rosa arvensis and Rosa × alba.
During this first phase of domestication and use of indigenous roses, roses are multiplied by suckers and cuttings. Introductions of new taxa were limited to major trade routes, step by step: China Eastern to Central China, East Middle East and the Middle East to Europe. The changes have certainly played an important role such as mossy nature of R. centifolia or intensity of color R. gallica, the transformation of stamens into petals (duplicature).

Classes of roses

Scholars generally distinguish "old roses" "modern roses".
The former are usually cultivars dating from before 1867, many of which were lost. Among those still cultivated include:
the "Gallic Roses" (Rosa gallica), especially officinalis and Cardinal Richelieu;
"pink one hundred leaves" (Rosa centifolia), especially "pink pompon" (Pompon de Meaux) and "red tassel" (Pompon de Bourgogne);
sparkling roses that are sterile mutations centifolia (rose or Damascus) as Salet or chiffon;
the "rose of Damascus" (Rosa damascena), natural hybrids appeared in Asia Minor, Rosa gallica Rosa × Phoenicia, with Rose Puteaux grown for its dried and pink Recht, widespread in Angleterre5 petals;
few "roses Portland," as Jacques Cartier;
the "Hazel" or "hazelnut tea," especially Glory of Dijon, Golden Dream and Mrs. Alfred Carrière;
some 'Bourbon' Louise Odier and especially Souvenir de la Malmaison;
"white rose" Rosa × alba, rose of York, Rosa alba semiplena, leg nymph moved and Pompon perfect white.
In 1867, the creation of La France, the first hybrid tea (derived from imported Chinese roses with cargoes of tea) marks the beginning of "modern roses" roses that are "large-flowered", the "floribunda" and the "English rose".

Espèces

The botanical species of roses, which belong to the genus Rosa, are the number from 100 to 200 according to the authors and are divided into four sub-genres: Plathyrhodon, Hesperhodos, Hulthemia (sometimes considered a separate genus) and Eurosa.
The subgenus Eurosa is divided into eleven sections: Pimpinellifoliae (burnet roses), Gallic (Gallic roses) Caninae, Carolinae, Gymnocarpae, Cinnamomeae (cinnamon roses) Chinenses, Banksianae, Laevigatae, Bracteatae and Synstylae.
Only a dozen species and their derivatives taxa (varieties, forms) have been used to create the most educated, usually called "double" flowers roses or "full", with many petals. More "natural" forms are grown in gardens, it is the "Botanic Roses", the simplest form like the wild rose, and hardiness agree well with the trend of a garden "savage. "Modern rose growers seek to exploit the diversity of the genus Rosa to introduce variety into their particular genes, for example resistance to cold or certain diseases.

The rose

The rose is the flower of roses, shrubs of the genus Rosa and the family Rosaceae. The rose gardens are characterized above all by the multiplication of its nested petals that give it its characteristic shape.
Appreciated for its beauty and fragrance, celebrated since ancient times by many poets and writers and painters for its colors ranging from pure white through to dark yellow and all shades in purple, and her perfume, she became the "queen of flowers" in the Western world (the peony fight him this title in China), present in almost every garden and almost all the bouquets.
The rose is one of the most cultivated plants in the world and ranks first in the market for cut flowers (with some 730 billion euros in 2008), but we often forget that roses are also wild plants (best known in Europe rose hips) single flowers with five petals, which have become fashionable for their more natural look, in recent decades as the "botanical roses."
Cultivated roses are the result of thousands of years of empirical transformations first, then at the end of the eighteenth century, methodical, especially hybridization. The varieties are endless, the number of cultivars currently available worldwide1 is estimated at over 3000.