Abstract
LIKE so many of our garden-flowers, the history of most of our cultivated varieties of the rose is involved in obscurity. A few species, as Rosa centifolia (the Cabbage Rose), gallica, damascena (the Damask Rose), moschata (the Moss Rose), lutea (the Yellow Rose), have retained their distinguishing characters; but the majority of the florist's flowers are the result of hybridisation or variation, in which all trace of their nativity is lost. The same is the case also in Western Asia, the rose which yields the famous attar of roses being of very doubtful origin, probably a form of R. damascena. In the work before us we have a history of the cultivation of the rose, followed by a description of the various species and varieties, with their geographical distribution; an account of the various modes of cultivation; and a history of the diseases and insect enemies to which it is liable—all embellished with very beautifully executed woodcuts. The greater part of this handsome volume is occupied by sixty chromolithographs of well-known roses, which are triumphs of the engraver's art. The colours are so truthful, and the execution so clear and brilliant, that even in engravings coloured by hand you could scarcely obtain more accurate or beautiful illustrations. The volume is one that deserves a place on every drawing-room table.
LesRoses:—Histoire; Culture; Description.
Ch.
Naudin
Par Hippolyte Jamain ct Eugène Forney; préface par. 60 chromolithographies d'après nature, par Grobon. 2me edition. (Paris: J. Rothschild.)
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LesRoses:—Histoire; Culture; Description.. Nature 11, 85 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/011085a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/011085a0