The ancient history of the rose / by Randle Wilbraham Falconer.

  • Falconer, Randle Wilbraham, 1816-1881.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ancient history of the rose / by Randle Wilbraham Falconer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    1/12
    (^From the Gartlenei's Magazine, vol. xv. p. 379.) The Ancient History of the Rose. By Randle Wilbraham Falconer, Fellow of the Botanical Society, Edinburgh, &c. (Read before the Botanical Society, Jan. 11. 1838.) To the horticulturist the early history of the Rose may form a pleasing subject of study, while, perhaps, the scientific botanist will not find in it anything worthy of his attention. In the following pages no attempt has been made to identify the kinds of roses mentioned by ancient writers, except in one or two instances, as the descriptions given of them are much too vague and indefinite to allow of any just conclusions being formed in regard to their respective species. The chief objects have been to enumerate and give the description of the roses mentioned by ancient writers, to show the periods of their flowering, their localities, the modes by which they were pro- pagated, and the various uses to which they were applied. Among both the Greeks and Romans some attention appears to have been paid to the cultivation of flowers, as offerings or as ornaments; as offerings in the temples of their deities, and as ornaments on occasions of public or private festivity. The Romans, however, appear to have esteemed flowers more than the Grecians, and the origin of this greater regard for them ; may not improbably be found in the imitation of that luxury and splendour which the Romans had witnessed in eastern countries. The rose is mentioned by Homer and by Anacreon. By