History—The fruits of the wild rose, including other species besides R. canina L., have a scanty, orange, acid, edible pulp, on account of which they were collected in ancient times when garden fruits were few and scarce. Galen[1031] mentions them as gathered by country people in his day, as they still are in Europe. Gerarde in the 16th century remarks that the fruit when ripe—“maketh most pleasant meats and banqueting dishes, as tarts and such like.“ Though the pulp of hips preserved with sugar which is here alluded to, is no longer brought to table, at least in this country,[1032] it retains a place in pharmacy as a useful ingredient of pill-masses and electuaries.
Description—The fruit of a rose consists of the bottle-shaped calyx, become dilated and succulent by growth, and sometimes crowned with 5 leafy segments, enclosing numerous dry carpels or achenes, containing each one exalbuminous seed. The fruit of R. canina called a hip, is ovoid, about ¾ of an inch long, with a smooth, red, shining surface. It is of a dense, fleshy texture, becoming on maturity, especially after frost, soft and pulpy, the pulp within the shining skin being of an orange colour, and of an agreeable sweetish subacid taste. The large interior cavity contains numerous hard achenes, which, as well as the walls of the former, are covered with strong short hairs.
For medicinal use, the only part required is the soft orange pulp, which is separated by rubbing it through a hair sieve.
Microscopic Structure—The epidermis of the fruit is made up of tabular cells containing red granules, which are much more abundant in the pulp. The latter, as usual in many ripe fruits, consists of isolated cells no longer forming a coherent tissue. Besides these cells, there occur small fibro-vascular bundles. Some of the cells enclose tufted crystals of oxalate of calcium; most of them however are loaded with red granules, either globular or somewhat elongated. They assume a bluish hue on addition of perchloride of iron, and are turned blackish by iodine. The later colouration reminds one of that assumed by starch granules under similar circumstances; yet on addition of a very dilute solution of iodine, the granules always exhibit a blackish, not a blue tint, so that they are not to be considered as starch granules. The hairs of the pulp are formed of a single, thick-walled cell, straight or sometimes a little crooked.
Chemical Composition—The pulp examined by Biltz (1824) was found to afford nearly 3 per cent. of citric acid, 7·7 of malic acid, besides citrates, malates and mineral salts, 25 per cent. of gum, and 30 of uncrystallizable sugar.
Uses—Hips are employed solely on account of their pulp, which mixed with twice its weight of sugar, constitutes the Confectio Rosæ caninæ of pharmacy.
SEMEN CYDONIÆ.
Quince Seeds, Quince Pips; F. Semences ou Pepins de Coings; G. Quittensamen.
Botanical Origin—Pirus Cydonia L. (Cydonia vulgaris Pers.), the quince tree, is supposed to be a true native of Western Asia, from the Caucasian provinces of Russia to the Hindu Kush range in Northern India. But it is now apparently wild also in many of the countries which surround the Mediterranean basin.
In a cultivated state, it flourishes throughout temperate Europe, but is far more productive in southern than in northern regions. Quinces ripen in the south of England, but not in Scotland, nor in St. Petersburg, or in Christiana.