SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Rose with egg-shaped seed-buds. Peduncles and petioles hispid. Flowers scarlet-coloured; prickles of the branches scattered and straight. Leaflets ovate, of a yellowish green, villose beneath, with glandular serratures. Branches spreading, of a whitish green.
This Rose is perfectly well known under the appellation of the Portland Rose; a title it is said to have received in compliment to the late Duchess of Portland, a great admirer of this charming tribe of plants, and in whose collection at Bulstrode they were cultivated in great luxuriance. It is a fine scarlet Rose, of a most brilliant appearance, far above comparison with any effort of art. It appears to have the compound character of three different plants: in growth and flower, like the Gallica officinalis; in foliage, like the Province; with seed-buds and peduncles more resembling the Damask species. Yet with all these affinities it seems to possess a perfectly distinct character, and may be easily distinguished from most other Roses by the fiery colour of its flowers: the stalks are of a whiter green, and the foliage of a yellower green, than Roses in general. It continues in successive bloom from the middle of summer till late in autumn.
Our figure was made from a plant in the nursery of Messrs. Colville.
