THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS

 Rose

     It is called the queen of flowers, and is one of the most popular flowers in the world. Its intoxicating fragrance, soft petals, and sharp thorns, make it easily distinguishable from other flowers. The rose is one of the most diverse and complex plants in the floral kingdom, and there are over 30,000 varieties of roses, including bushes, hedges, miniatures, climbers, and vines. While most are thorny, species without any thorns have also been bred today. Roses come in almost every colour imaginable, from reds to pinks, whites, oranges, purples, yellows, and even a red so deep that it’s almost black! Roses are generally classified as wild roses, old garden roses, and modern roses.

     Wild roses are those that occur naturally, with no hybridizing or crossbreeding. Authentic wild roses are single blooms, with only five petals. These hardy flowers that grow readily in all kinds of soil, require low maintenance, and are found in North America, Asia, and Europe. Old roses, or historic roses are those species grown in Europe before the 1800’s.They include Alba roses, thought to have been grown by the Romans, the Damask rose that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean, and Gallica roses, grown by the Persians as early as the 12thcentury B.C. These flowers don’t bloom continually like modern roses, but have a glorious fragrance. Modern roses, or hybrid tea roses are the ones that we are all most familiar with. They have been developed by cross breeding different types of roses to create new varieties. These roses have different colours, different sized bushes, stems, and thorns.

     The petals and rose hips of the flower are edible, and have been used in medicines since ancient times. Rosehips - the fruit of the rose, which forms at the base of the flower, are of great nutritional value as they’re rich in vitamins. Even today, the rose, considered food for the body, mind and soul, is used in various types of cosmetics and essences.

 

     The rose is so closely linked to different cultures, religions, and civilizations, that it has inspired artists, poets, and writers through the ages. The word rose has come from the Latin word ‘rosa,’ meaning red, and the flower has been a symbol of love and beauty since ancient times.

 

     The rose has been around for a staggering 35 million years, and embalmed rose buds were found along with the mummies of Ancient Egypt. Archaeologists have found paintings of roses on the wall of the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose IV, who died in the fourteenth century B.C. The first written reference to the rose flower has been found in Iraq, and it dates back to 3000 B.C. Ancient Roman rulers were so bewitched by roses that they cultivated it instead of growing crops to feed the common people. The Romans used rose petals extensively – they were sprinkled in their bath water, lined on their bed sheets, dining tables and floors, and were added to their food and drink. They were also used as perfume, in confetti, and as a valuable herb. The Roman emperor Nero liked to shower honoured guests with fresh rose petals. According to some accounts, these clouds of rose-petals sometimes nearly suffocated some of Nero’s guests!

 

     The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar adorned his palace with roses. They were extensively grown in his palace gardens for their oil, and the king was known to fill his mattress with rose petals. Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian and writer, wrote that charred rose petals were useful to darken the eyebrows, and suggested that dried, powdered rose petals should be sprinkled about the body as a deodorant. In Ancient Rome, a rose would be placed above the doorway of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed. The phrase ‘sub rosa,’ or ‘under the rose’, meaning to keep a secret, is believed to be derived from this ancient Roman practice. The rose has been a symbol of secrecy in other, more modern societies too.

 

     In sixteenth-century England, servants, valets, and inn workers, wore a rose behind their ear to indicate that the wearer heard everything, but repeated nothing, thus protecting the secrets of customers. In Germany, roses in a dining room suggested that diners could speak freely without fear that their secrets would travel beyond the walls of the room.

 

     The Empress Josephine, wife of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte established the first rose garden at Chateau Malmaison, outside Paris in 1798. The garden had approximately 250 varieties of roses. Napoleon, who was very supportive of his wife’s interest in roses, ordered his soldiers to bring home any new rose they found blooming on foreign shores. The fame of Josephine’s garden spread so far and wide that even when England was at war with France, rose plants for Josephine were exempt from the hostilities, and were allowed to cross blockades! Josephine’s enthusiasm for roses was contagious, and ignited an interest in rose growing and hybridizing across Europe. Josephine also commissioned Pierre Joseph Redoute, Marie Antoinette’s court painter, to paint a series of rose portraits, which are considered some of the most beautiful rose paintings ever created. Josephine often carried a rose in her hand, which she raised to her lips when smiling, since she was rather self conscious of her imperfect teeth.

      In the seventeenth century, roses were in such high demand in Europe that the flowers as well as rose water were considered as legal tender. They were sometimes used as barter in the markets as well as for any payments the common people had to make to royalty. It is said that Cleopatra, the legendary Queen of Egypt, welcomed the Roman noble, Mark Anthony with a knee deep sea of rose petals! England has a very strong association with the rose. It is the country’s national flower. A beautiful young English woman is referred to as ‘English rose.’ The rose has frequently appeared on British coins since 1344, when the floral outline was designed into a gold coin called ‘Noble’. A coin, specially minted for the American colonies in 1722 was called ‘Rosa Americana’.

     The War of the Roses was a destructive, and bitter civil war in England fought from 1455-1487. It was caused by two warring families who wanted to control England - the House of Yorkand the House of Lancaster. The Yorks used the symbol of a white rose on their crest, and the Lancasters used a red rose to mark their belongings, and this is how the war got its name. The families reconciled after 30years when Henry VII of Lancaster married a princess of the House of York. They began the famous Tudor dynasty. A new hybrid rose with red and white petals became the symbol of peace. It was called ‘York and Lancaster’.

 

The rose, which was designated the official flower and floral emblem of the United States of America in 1986, was in a way, responsible for its discovery too. The crew on the ship of explorer Christopher Columbus found and retrieved a rose branch floating on the ocean on October 11, 1492. This reassured the tired sailors that land was near. The very next day, Columbus discovered America! The rose is the state flower of the American states of Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota, and the District of Columbia. The month of June is designated ‘National Rose Month’ in the United States. The first president of the USA, George Washington, was a rose breeder, and named a rose he bred after his mother.

     Confucius wrote in 500BC, that there were hundreds of roses growing in the Chinese Emperor’s imperial gardens, and mentioned that the royal library contained hundreds of books about roses. It is said that the rose gardeners of the Han dynasty (207 B.C.-A.D. 220) were so obsessed with these flowers that their rose gardens encroached into agricultural land. Finally, the emperor had to order some rose gardens to be removed so that food could be grown for the people.

 

     According to the ‘Thousand and One Arabian Nights’, the Caliph of Baghdad served a jam made from roses that captivated anyone who ate it. There are several interesting mythical stories associated with the history of the rose flower.

     According to Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love is believed to have made the rose from her tears and the blood of Adonis, her lover. Another myth blames the God Eros, or Cupid, for the rose’s thorny stem. According to this tale, Cupid was enjoying the fragrance of the rose, which had a smooth, long stem, when he was stung by a bee hidden amongst its petals. To punish the flower, Cupid angrily shot his arrows into its stem. This, according to the legend, is why the rose is cursed forever to have arrowhead-shaped thorns on its stem.

  

     According to Biblical stories, the white rose that grew in the Garden of Eden turned red as it blushed with shame when Adam and Eve fell from grace. During the Middle Ages, Christians believed that roses in heaven turned red when kissed by the Virgin Mary, and the spilled blood of St. Francis of Assisi turned into roses when it touched the ground. The rosary (derived from the Latin word ‘rosarium’, meaning ‘garland of roses’) is a Roman Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary. The term rosary also denotes the prayer beads used to count the prayers that make up the rosary, as well as the sequence of prayers. One of the names of Jesus in the Bible is ‘the rose of Sharon’.

 

     In an ancient Hindu myth, Brahma the creator of the world, and Vishnu, the protector of the world, once had an argument over whether the lotus or the rose was more beautiful. Vishnu praised the rose, but Brahma believed that the lotus was unsurpassed in beauty. But Brahma had never seen a rose before, and when he did, he was simply enchanted with its beauty. As a reward, Brahma created a bride for Vishnu and called her Lakshmi. This lovely goddess was created from 108 large, and 1008 small rose petals! Roses have been grown in India since time immemorial. 

     ‘Kashyapa’s Agricultural Treatise’ (800 B.C.E.) lists the rose among other plants and trees that a king should plant within his kingdom. When Alexander the Great invaded India, in 327 B.C., it is said that he was amazed at the variety of plants he found, and he sent back some rose plants to his mentor Aristotle. In 1300 A.D. a Muslim traveler and chronicler, Rashid-ud-din, who visited Gujarat wrote that “the people were very wealthy and happy and grow no less than 70 kinds of roses”. Domingo Paes and Fernao Nunez, two Portuguese travelers who travelled to the kingdom of Vijayanagar around1537 mention seeing plantations of roses, and bazaars where baskets laden with roses were sold, as loose flowers and as garlands. They noted that men and women from all walks of life adorned themselves with roses.

     The King of Vijayanagar wore white robes embroidered with golden roses. The travellers mentioned that every day, the king would shower white roses on his favourite courtiers, elephants, and horses! Abdur Razzak, a Muslim diplomat from Persia, who had visited the same kingdom in 1443, wrote, “Roses are sold everywhere. These people cannot live without roses, which they consider as important and necessary as food.”

     The Mughal rulers, who loved gardening, popularised rose cultivation in India. The first emperor, Babur, (1483-1530) brought camel loads of musk and damask roses into Hindustan from Afghanistan. Babur was so captivated by roses that he gave all his daughters rose names – Gulchihra (rosecheeked), Gulrukh (rose-faced), Gulbadan (rose-body) and Gulrang (rose colour). The word ‘gul’ means rose in Persian. The Emperor Akbar sometimes took camel loads of roses to give to the wives of his allies. Manucci, the 17th century Italian traveler was amazed to see that Mughal nobles not only used huge quantities of rose water and oil on themselves, but even rubbed their horses with them! The Mughal Empress Nur Jahan’s mother was the one who discovered rose ‘attar’ or perfume.

 

     India’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru always wore a red rose in his buttonhole, and it came to symbolise him. The lovely rose even inspired Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation. He said poetically, “A rose does not preach – it simply spreads its fragrance.”„

Do you know?

* Roses of different colours signify different emotions. Red rose stands for love and passion and is the rose of lovers. Yellow roses signify friendship, pink roses signify admiration, and white roses signify purity and innocence.

* The rose family also includes pears, apples, cherries, plums, apricots and almonds.

* Roses are named after famous people. The Oprah Rose, named for media personality Oprah Winfrey has ruby red blossoms. A light pink historic old rose is named after Napoleon Bonaparte.

* The oldest rose plant in the world has grown for over 1,000 years on the wall of Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. It is a symbol of the city’s prosperity – legend has it that Hildesheim will never decline as long as the rose keeps blooming. During World War II, the rose not only survived bomb attacks in 1945 that destroyed the cathedral, but it grew new shoots just a few weeks later!

* Some of the roses named after Abraham Lincoln include varieties such as ‘President Lincoln’ the ‘Mr. Lincoln,’ and the ‘Honest Abe,’ a miniature moss rose.

* The Rose Valley (also called The Valley of Roses) is a region in central Bulgaria, where the famed Bulgarian oil-bearing rose grows. Bulgaria’s tradition of producing essential oils dates back to the 17^th century and is a source of national pride for the country.

* The celebrated playwright William Shakespeare refers to roses more than 50 times throughout his writings. A dark pink rose called ‘William Shakespeare’ is named after him.

* King Midas, king of Phrygia, famous for turning anything he touched to gold, loved roses and planted so many vast gardens of them, that his country was called the land of roses.