PETALA ROSÆ CENTIFOLIÆ.
Flores Rosæ pallidæ v. incarnatæ; Provence Rose, Cabbage Rose; F. Pétales de Roses pâles; G. Centifolienrosen.
Botanical Origin—Rosa centifolia L.—This rose grows in a wild state and with single flowers in the eastern part of the Caucasus.[995] Cultivated and with flowers more or less double, it is found under an infinity of varieties in all the temperate regions of the globe. The particular variety which is grown in England for medicinal use, is known in English gardens as the Cabbage Rose, but other varieties are cultivated for similar purposes on the Continent.
R. centifolia L. is very closely allied to R. gallica L.; though Boissier maintains the two species, there are other botanists who regard them as but one. The rose cultivated at Puteaux near Paris for druggists’ use, and hence called Rose de Puteaux, is the Rosa bifera of Redouté, placed by De Candolle though doubtfully under R. damascena.
History—We are unable to trace the history of the particular variety of rose under notice. That it is not of recent origin, seems evident from its occurrence chiefly in old gardens. The Rosa pallida of the older English writers on drugs[996] was called Damask Rose, but that name is now applied at Mitcham to Rosa gallica L., which has very deep-coloured flowers.
Production—The Cabbage Rose is cultivated in England to a very small extent, rose water, which is made from its flowers, being procurable of better quality and at a lower cost in other countries, especially in the south of France. At Mitcham, whence the London druggists have long been supplied, there are now (1873) only about 8 acres planted with this rose, but a supply is also derived from the market gardens of Putney, Hammersmith and Fulham.
Description—The Cabbage Rose is supplied to the druggists in the fresh state, full blown, and picked off close below the calyx. A complete description is scarcely required: we need only say that it is a large and very double rose, of a beautiful pink colour and of delicious odour. The calyx is covered with short setæ tipped with a fragrant, brown, viscid secretion. The petals are thin and delicate (not thick and leathery as in the Tea Roses), and turn brown on drying.
In making rose water, it is the custom in some laboratories to strip the petals from the calyx and to reject the latter; in others, the roses are distilled entire, and so far as we have observed, with equally good result.
Chemical Composition—In a chemical point of view, the petals of R. centifolia agree with those of R. gallica, even as to the colouring matter. Enz in 1867 obtained from the former, malic and tartaric acid, tannin, fat, resin, and sugar.
In the distillation of large quantities of the flowers, a little essential oil is obtained. It is a butyraceous substance, of weak rose-like, but not very agreeable odour. It contains a large proportion of inodorous stearoptene. For further particulars see remarks under the head Attar of Rose.