This Eglantine Rose is the spontaneous effusion of nature in the nursery-ground of Mr. Williams of Turnham Green, who informs me that he found it on his premises in the year 1786, growing luxuriantly in the midst of a hedge of single Sweetbriars. Its growth is so rapid, that it will form shoots of seven and eight feet in one season; which joined to the largeness of its flowers and foliage, induced us to adopt the specific appellation of major, a title by which we think it may (at present) be distinguished from any other, as the largest Sweetbriar we have as yet seen is certainly altogether in size a minor, when compared with this fine plant. Seeds, but not freely, and is propagated (slowly) by layers.
ROSA Eglanteria, multiplex.
Double Eglantine Rose, or Williams’s Sweetbriar.
CHARACTER SPECIFICUS.
Rosa germinibus sub-globosis, pedunculisque hispidis et glandulosis: floribus multipetalis: foliolis ovatis, glandulosis, et pilosis: caule et petiolis aculeatis.