ROSA TOMENTOSA. DOWNY-LEAVED DOG-ROSE.
ROSA tomentosa ; foliolis ovatis subacutis, fructu hispido nudove. Lindl.
a. vera, surculis curvatis, calycis segmentis compositis.
ROSA tomentosa. Smith FI. Brit. p. 539. Engl. Bot. t. 990. Decand. FI. Fr. ed. 3. vol. 4. p. 440. FI. Gall,
Syn. p. 332. Ait. Hort. K m . ed. 2. vol. 3. p. 266. Pers. Syn. PI. vol. 2. p. 50. Woods in Act. Linn,
vol. 12. p. 197. Lindl. Monog. Ros.p. 77. Hooker FI. Scot. P . I. p. 156.
ROSA villosa. J-Iuds. Angl.p. 219. var. (3. (Ed. FI. Dan. 1. 1458.
ROSA scabriuscula. Smith Engl. Bot, t. 1896. Woods in Act. Linn. vol. 12. p . 193.
13. mollis, surculis strictissimis, calycis segmentis subsimplicibus.
ROSA mollis. Smith Engl. Bot. t. 2459. -
ROSA villosa. Vill. Delph. vol. 3. p. 551. Woods in Act. Linn. vol. 12. p . 189.
ROSA heterophylla. Woods in A ct. Linn. vol. 1-2. p . 195.
ROSA pulchella. Woods in Act. Linn. vol. 12 . p. 196.
y . resinosa, pumila ceesia, foliolis angustis, floribus ruberrimis.
Welsh, Rhosyn lledwlanog.
Class and Order. ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNTA.
[Natural Order. ROSACEiE, Juss., Decand., Hook.]
Gen. Char. Calycis tubus urceolatus, carnosus; achenia plurima hirsuta includens. Receptaculum villosum.
Ge n . Char. Tube of die Calyx urceolate, fleshy; including many hairy achenia (or closed pericarps). Receptacle hairy.
Div. III. Shoots straight. Aculei nearly straight. Leaflets ovate or oblong, with spreading serratures. Calycine segments
persistent. Disk thickened, closing the mouth.
Caulis septem- vel octo-pedalis, divaricatus, cinerascens.
Rami subglauci, aculeis rectis (raro falcatis) mqualibus spar-
sis armati, setis nullis.
Folia pubescentia incana; stipulis concavis, dilatatis, den-
ticulatis, glandulis ciliatis; petiolis subaculeatis, glan-
dulosis; foliolis subquinque, oblongis, obtusis, dupli-
cato-serratis, serraturis divergentibus, rarius conver-
gentibus, mollibus, rugosis, subtus pallidioribus et
subglandulosis, odore terebinthino.
Flores solitarii vel plures, rubescentes, calyciformes, pedi-
cellis brevibus.
Bracte® ovatffi vel oblong®, tomentosa;, pedunculis, setis
vel glandulis hispidis, longiores vel breviores.
Calycis T ubus ovatus, oblongus vel rotundatus, plerumque
hispidus, nunc raro glaber; foliolis compositis, paten-
- tibus, semper dorso hispidis.
Petala integra, obcordata, concava.
Discus incrassatus, planus.
Sty Li valde hirsuti, distinct!.
Fructus subpurpurascens, rotundatus, obovatus vel depres-
sus, plerumque hispidus, foliolis convergendbus s®pis-
sime coronatus.
Fig. 1. Fruit of Rosa tomentosa.—natural size.
Stems seven or eight feet in height, spreading, very gray.
Branches somewhat glaucous, armed with straight, (rarely
falcate,) equal, scattered prickles, destitute of set®.
Leaves hoary with down; stipules concave, dilated, tooth-
letted and fringed with glands; petioles slighdy prickly,
and glandular; leaflets about five, oblong or ovate, obtuse,
doubly serrated, serratures diverging, rarely converging,
soft and rugose, paler beneath, and sometimes
slighdy glandular, having a turpentine smell.
Flowers one or more, reddish, cup-shaped, with short stalks.
Bracteas ovate or oblong, downy, longer or shorter than the
peduncles, which are hispid with unequal sets and
glands.
T ube of the Calyx ovate, oblong or round, usually hispid,
sometimes nearly smooth; calycine leaflets compound,
spreading, always hispid at the back.
Petals entire, obcordate, concave.
Disk incrassated, flat.
Styles very hairy, distinct.
Fruit somewhat purple, round, obovate or depressed, generally
hispid, crowned by the converging segments of
the calyx.
Of all the varying genus of Rosa, this is perhaps the species which exhibits the greatest differences of appearance, if we
except, indeed, the R. canina. The greater part of tiiese varieties are, however, very trifling, and can only be brought within
the compass of a tolerable definition in the three instances which are mentioned above.
The first of these has the leaflets smooth above (i2. tomentosa (3. of Woods and R.feetida of Batard); or smooth on both
sides, tomentosa y Woods); or without glands (tomentosa o Woods). The fruit is long, round, depressed or turbinate, hispid,
or smooth, or nearly so. Flowers pale blush, or deep red, or blotched, as in the English Botany figure of R . scabriuscula.
This plant is very common in Suffolk; and it may well have puzzled Mr. Woods to find out what the important difference is
between it and R. tomentosa. In fact, a vague, almost indescribable dissimilarity in their general aspect, chiefly caused by
the larger leaves of the former, is all that distinguished them, even to the eye o f the most practised observer. So far is the
pubescence from being harsher than in R. tomentosa, that it is just the reverse.
Rosa fcetida of Batard’s Supplement to the Flora of the Maine and Loire, is only a weak variety, with leaves smooth
above, and of which the fruit is said to be foetid when bruised.
The variety (3 has certainly a well-marked character in its mode of growth to distinguish it from a, its rootshools being
very straight, and not bent like a bow as in the latter. It may be doubted, however, how far this can be considered sufficient,
without additional peculiarities. The undivided calycine segments are tolerably constant; but specimens received from
Northumberland produce both divided and undivided ones. In R. heterophylla they are confessedly a little divided; and in
pulchella, which has all the appearance of the stunted state of R. mollis, figured in English Botany, they are quite compound
again. Many specimens of R. tomentosa have the calycine segments in a state perfectly intermediate between compound and
nearly simple; and I believe it will not be doubted, that the distinction between simple and sub-simple is too ambiguous for
specific discrimination. We have examined Mr. Woods's own specimens o f R . pulchella, without being able to detect the
crenature of the petals, on which circumstance he seems inclined to place too much confidence: for it cannot avail much as a
character, unless the comparative size of the flowers be admitted also; since it is always seen that crumpled petals have their
margins more or less crenated. Plants of Rosa hibernica, which grew in our friend Mr. Lyell’s garden, had petals crenate
one year and emarginate the next. .
The variety y resinosa is a very interesting plant, and may be considered as the same sort of offspring of Rosa tomentosa,
as Ran’s R. aciphylla is of R. canina. Wild specimens are smaller in all their parts, with very compact foliage, narrow hoary
leaves and bright-red flowers. We have, however, an intermediate specimen from the same part of Ireland, and in cultivation
the plant becomes every year more robust and less hoary. It was found in the south of Ireland by Mr. Drummond,
Curator of the Botanic Garden at Cork.
So closely do R. tomentosa and R. canina border on each other, that no satisfactory marks o f difference can be produced,
except the straight prickles, diverging serratures, the hispidity of the fruit, calycine leaflets and peduncles, and the soft leaves
of the former, as contrasted with the hooked prickles, converging serratures, smooth calyx, deciduous calycine segments, and
naked and harshly pubescent leaves of the latter. Rosa tomentosa has usually the leaflets of the calyx erect during floweriqg;
but we have specimens, gathered at Chamouni in Switzerland, with reflexed ones.