Varieties. Above one hundred varieties have been assigned to this species, and classed in three divisions:
Var. provincialis includes the Provence, or Cabbage Roses.
Var. muscosa comprises the Moss Roses.
Var. pomponia, the Pompone Roses. According to Loudon, we have made this a variety of R. centifolia, although some authors assert it to have been found growing wild in 1735, by a gardener of Dijon, in France, who discovered it while cutting wood on a mountain near that city. Many varieties of it have been obtained, among which, the most singular is the little dwarf given in the New Du Hamel as a distinct species. It does not grow more than twelve or fifteen inches high, and frequently perishes before blossoming.
Var. bipinnata, Red, has bipinnate leaves.
R. Gallica, L.—The French, or Provence Rose. Red Rose.—Synonyms. R. centifolia, Mill. R. sylvatica, Gater. R. rubra, Lam. R. holosericea, Rossig. R. Belgica, Brot. R. blanda, Brot. Prickles unequal. Stipules narrow, divaricate at the tip. Leaflets, 5-7, coriaceous, rigid, ovate or lanceolate, deflexed. Flower bud ovate-globose; sepals spreading during the time of the flowering. Fruit, subglobose, very coriaceous. Calyx and peduncle more or less hispid with glanded hairs, somewhat viscose.
A species allied to R. centifolia, L., but with round fruit, and very coriaceous leaflets, with more numerous nerves, that are a little prominent, and are anastomosing. Native of middle Europe and Caucasus, in hedges. The flowers vary from red to crimson, and from single to double; and there is one variety with the flowers double white. The petals of some of the varieties of this rose are used in medicine, which, though not so fragrant as those of the Dutch hundred-leaved rose, also one of the varieties of this species, are preferred for their beautiful color and their pleasant astringency. The petals of R. Gallica are those which are principally used for making conserve of roses, and, when dried, for gargles: their odor is increased by drying. They are also used in common with those of R. centifolia, for making rose-water and attar of roses. This rose was called by old writers the Red Rose, and is supposed to have been the one assumed as the badge of the House of Lancaster. This, also, is one of the roses mentioned by Pliny; from which, he says, all the others have been derived. It is often confounded with the Damask rose.
Varieties. The varieties of this species are very numerous. One of the most distinct is Var. parvifolia. (R. parvifolia, Ehr. R. Burgundiaca, Rossig. R. remensis, Desf.) The Burgundy Rose.—A dwarf, compact shrub, with stiff, ovate acute, and sharply serrated small leaflets, and very double purple flowers, which are solitary, and have some resemblance, in form and general appearance, to the flower of a double-flowered Asiatic Ranunculus.
VILLOSÆ.—Hairy Roses.