Rose


A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Their flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through pinks, reds, oranges and yellows. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and Northwest Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Roses have acquired cultural significance in many societies. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses to climbers that can reach seven meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has been used in the development of the wide range of garden roses.

Etymology

The name rose comes from Latin rosa, which was perhaps borrowed from Oscan, from Greek ῥόδον rhódon, itself borrowed from Old Persian wrd-, related to Avestan varəδa, Sogdian ward, Parthian wâr.

Botany

The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species, they are long, pinnate, with 5–9 leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous but a few are evergreen or nearly so.

Thorns

The sharp growths along a rose stem, though commonly called "thorns", are technically prickles, outgrowths of the epidermis, unlike true thorns, which are modified stems. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa rugosa and R. pimpinellifolia have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots. Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses have only vestigial prickles that have no points.
Plant geneticist Zachary Lippman of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory found that prickles are controlled by the LOG gene. Blocking the LOG gene in roses reduced the thorns into tiny buds.

Flower

The flowers of most species have five petals, with the exception of Rosa omeiensis and Rosa sericea, which usually have only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals. These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. The coloured petals are fused on the axis and arranged in five bundles forming a circle, the petal bundles expand further from each other; the petals form a cup or disc surrounding the gynoecium. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into achenes.

Reproduction

Roses are insect-pollinated in nature. A fertilized ovary forms a berry-like aggregate fruit called a "hip". The hips of most species are red, but a few have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds" embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the dog rose and rugosa rose, are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings.
Many of the domestic cultivars do not produce hips, as the flowers are too tightly petalled to provide access for pollination and the plants can only propagate through human-made cuttings.

Evolution

The oldest remains of roses are from the Late Eocene Florissant Formation of Colorado. Roses were present in Europe by the early Oligocene.
Today's garden roses come from 18th-century China. Among the old Chinese garden roses, the Old Blush group is the most primitive, while newer groups are the most diverse.

Genome

A study of the patterns of natural selection in the genome of roses indicated that genes related to DNA damage repair and stress adaptation have been positively selected, likely during their domestication. This rapid evolution may reflect an adaptation to genome confliction resulting from frequent intra- and inter-species hybridization and switching environmental conditions of growth.

Species

The genus Rosa is composed of 140–180 species and divided into four subgenera:
  • Hulthemia containing two species from Southwest Asia, Rosa persica and Rosa berberifolia, which are the only roses without compound leaves or stipules.
  • Hesperrhodos contains Rosa minutifolia and Rosa stellata, from North America.
  • Platyrhodon with one species from east Asia, Rosa roxburghii.
  • Rosa containing all the other roses. This subgenus is subdivided into 11 sections.
  • * Banksianae – white and yellow flowered roses from China.
  • * Bracteatae – three species, two from China and one from India.
  • * Caninae – pink and white flowered species from Asia, Europe and North Africa.
  • * Carolinae – white, pink, and bright pink flowered species all from North America.
  • * Chinensis – white, pink, yellow, red and mixed-colour roses from China and Burma.
  • * Gallicanae – pink to crimson and striped flowered roses from western Asia and Europe.
  • * Gymnocarpae – one species in western North America, others in east Asia.
  • * Laevigatae – a single white flowered species from China.
  • * Pimpinellifoliae – white, pink, bright yellow, mauve and striped roses from Asia and Europe.
  • * Rosa – white, pink, lilac, mulberry and red roses from everywhere but North Africa.
  • * Synstylae – white, pink, and crimson flowered roses from all areas.

    Ecology

Some birds, particularly finches, eat the seeds.

Pests and diseases

Wild roses are host plants for a number of pests and diseases. Many of these affect other plants, including other genera of the Rosaceae.
Cultivated roses are often subject to severe damage from insect, arachnid and fungal pests and diseases. In many cases they cannot be usefully grown without regular treatment to control these problems.

Uses

Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They have also been used for commercial perfumery and commercial cut flower crops. Some are used as landscape plants, for hedging and for other utilitarian purposes such as game cover and slope stabilization.

Ornamental plants

The majority of ornamental roses are hybrids that were bred for their flowers. A few, mostly species roses are grown for attractive or scented foliage, ornamental thorns or for their showy fruit.
Ornamental roses have been cultivated for millennia, with the earliest known cultivation known to date from at least 500 BC in Mediterranean countries, Persia, and China. It is estimated that 30 to 35 thousand rose hybrids and cultivars have been bred and selected for garden use as flowering plants. Most are double-flowered with many or all of the stamens having morphed into additional petals.
In the early 19th century the Empress Josephine of France patronized the development of rose breeding at her gardens at Malmaison. As long ago as 1840 a collection numbering over one thousand different cultivars, varieties and species was possible when a rosarium was planted by Loddiges nursery for Abney Park Cemetery, an early Victorian garden cemetery and arboretum in England.

Cut flowers

Roses are a popular crop for both domestic and commercial cut flowers. Generally they are harvested and cut when in bud, and held in refrigerated conditions until ready for display at their point of sale. The price of the roses depends partly on the characteristics of the rose itself, such as how long the stem is and how big the bloom is, and partly on factors about how it was grown, such as which country it was grown in.
In temperate climates, cut roses are often grown in greenhouses, and in warmer countries they may also be grown under cover in order to ensure that the flowers are not damaged by weather and that pest and disease control can be carried out effectively. Significant quantities are grown in some tropical countries, and these are shipped by air to markets across the world.
Some kind of roses are artificially coloured using dyed water, like rainbow roses.

Perfume

Rose perfumes are made from rose oil, which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. An associated product is rose water which is used for cooking, cosmetics, medicine and religious practices. The production technique originated in Persia and then spread through Arabia and India, and more recently into eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, Iran and Germany, damask roses are used. In other parts of the world Rosa × centifolia is commonly used. The oil is transparent pale yellow or yellow-grey in colour. 'Rose Absolute' is solvent-extracted with hexane and produces a darker oil, dark yellow to orange in colour. The weight of oil extracted is about one three-thousandth to one six-thousandth of the weight of the flowers; for example, about two thousand flowers are required to produce one gram of oil.
The main constituents of attar of roses are the fragrant alcohols geraniol and L-citronellol and rose camphor, an odorless solid composed of alkanes, which separates from rose oil. β-Damascenone is also a significant contributor to the scent.