A rose is a perennial flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa , within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colours. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Most are native to Asia, with smaller numbers of species native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Natives, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and fragrance.
The leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with sharply toothed oval-shaped leaflets. The plant's fleshy edible fruit, which ripens in the late summer through autumn, is called a rose hip. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 7 meters in height. Species from different parts of the world easily hybridize, which has given rise to the many types of garden roses.
The name rose comes from French, itself from Latin, rosa , which was borrowed from Oscan, from Greek rhodion (Aeolic wrodion ), from Old Persian wurdi "flower" (cf. Avest. warda , Sogdian ward , Parthian wâr ).
Attar of rose is the steam-extracted essential oil from rose flowers that has been used in perfumes for centuries. Rose water, made from the rose oil, is widely used in Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. The French are known for their rose syrup, most commonly made from an extract of rose petals. In the United States, this French rose syrup is used to make rose scones and marshmallows.
Rose hips are occasionally made into jam, jelly, and marmalade, or are brewed for tea, primarily for their high Vitamin C content. They are also pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup. Rose hips are also used to produce Rose hip seed oil, which is used in skin products and some makeup products.
Botany
The leaves of most species are 5–15 centimetres long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. The vast majority of roses are deciduous but a few (particularly in South east Asia) are evergreen or nearly so.
The flowers of most species of roses have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea , which usually has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some Rosa sericea , four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. The ovary is inferior, developing below the petals and sepals.
The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Rose species that produce open-faced flowers are attractive to pollinating bees and other insects, thus more apt to produce hips. Many of the domestic cultivars are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa pimpinellifolia ) have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds" (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the Dog Rose ( Rosa canina ) and Rugosa Rose ( Rosa rugosa ), are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant.The petals have waxy cuticals and it works like a leaf. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.
While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called "thorns", they are actually prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). True thorns, as produced by e.g. Citrus or Pyracantha , are modified stems, which always originate at a node and which have nodes and internodes along the length of the thorn itself. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa rugosa and R. pimpinellifolia have densely packed straight spines, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots (both of these species grow naturally on coastal sand dunes). Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses only have vestigial prickles that have no points.
Species
Further information: List of Rosa speciesSome representative rose species
- Rosa banksiae : Lady Banks Rose
- Rosa californica : California Rose
- Rosa canina : Dog Rose, Briar Bush
- Rosa carolina : Pasture Rose
- Rosa chinensis : China Rose
- Rosa dumalis : Glaucous Dog Rose
- Rosa eglanteria : Sweetbriar or Eglantine Rose
- Rosa foetida : Austrian Yellow or Austrian Briar
- Rosa gallica : Gallic Rose, French Rose
- Rosa gigantea (syn. R. x odorata gigantea )
- Rosa glauca (syn. R. rubrifolia ): Redleaf Rose
- Rosa laevigata (syn. R. sinica ): Cherokee Rose, Camellia Rose, Mardan Rose
- Rosa majalis : Cinnamon Rose
- Rosa minutifolia : Baja Rose
- Rosa moschata : Musk Rose
- Rosa multiflora : Multiflora Rose
- Rosa pimpinellifolia : Scotch Rose
- Rosa rubiginosa (syn. R. eglanteria ): Eglantine, Sweet Briar
- Rosa rugosa : Rugosa Rose, Japanese Rose
- Rosa virginiana (syn. R. lucida ): Virginia Rose
Pests and diseases
Main articles: Pests and diseases of roses and List of rose diseasesRoses are subject to several diseases, such as rose rust ( Phragmidium mucronatum ), rose black spot, and powdery mildew. Fungal diseases in the Rose are best solved by a preventative fungicidal spray program rather than by trying to cure an infection after it emerges on the plant. After the disease is visible, its spread can be minimized through pruning and the use of fungicides, although the actual infection cannot be reversed. Certain rose varieties are considerably less susceptible than others to fungal diseases.
The main pest affecting roses is the aphid (greenfly), which sucks the sap and weakens the plant. (Ladybugs are a predator of aphids and should be encouraged in the rose garden.) The spraying with insecticide of roses is often recommended but should be done with care to minimize the loss of beneficial insects. Roses are also used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species; see list of Lepidoptera that feed on roses.
Uses
Roses are best known for their flowers. Roses are popular garden shrubs, as flowering shrubs. They are also grown as cut flowers, as one of the most popular and commonly sold florists' flowers.
A few roses are grown for scented foliage (such as Rosa rubiginosa, ornamental thorns, Rosa sericea or their ornamental fruit Rosa moyesii).
Roses are also of great value to the perfume industry. An attar of roses is distilled from the flowers.
The rose hip, the fruit of some species, is used as a minor source of Vitamin C. Roses may also be planted as hedging, and for game cover.
Cultivation
In horticulture roses are propagated by grafting or rooting cuttings. Cultivars are selected for their flowers. They may be grafted onto a rootstock that provides sturdiness, or (especially with Old Garden Roses) allowed to develop their own roots. Roses require 5 hours of direct sunlight a day during the growing season. Following blooming and exposure to frost roses enter a dormant stage in winter.
Many thousands of rose hybrids and cultivars have been bred and selected for garden use; most are double-flowered with many or all of the stamens having mutated into additional petals. In the early 19th century the Empress Josephine of France patronized the development of rose breeding at her gardens at Malmaison. As long ago as 1840 a collection numbering over one thousand different cultivars, varieties and species was possible when a rosarium was planted by Loddiges nursery for Abney Park Cemetery, an early Victorian garden cemetery and arboretum in England.
Twentieth-century rose breeders generally emphasized size and colour, producin
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