SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Rose unarmed, with oblong seed-buds, and hispid petioles and peduncles. Blossoms of a deep red purple. Leaves smooth. Leaflets ovate, sharp-pointed, and sawed at the edges. Stem and branches smooth. Fruit pendulous.
This thornless Rose may be almost considered as the exception to an otherwise general rule. A specific so unequivocally good seldom occurs; and yet this Rose, in the Hortus Kewensis, bears the name of pendulina, from its pendulous fruit; a character common to several other species. But had we not found this Rose to be as well known under the name of inermis, as by the title of pendulina, we should not (although for the better) have thought ourselves so well justified in altering it; regarding names of no further value than as they give us the most immediate direction to any object we may be in search of. It is an early-blooming Rose with single-flowers of the finest purple colour; and frequently blooms a second time in the autumn; but its flowers then are not so large as in the early part of the season.
Our figure was drawn from a large plant in the nursery of Mr. Shailer.
