Health is the Flora of Today: Roses

 

Roses 

The name rose comes from Latin rosa

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 show

Roses vary in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds

Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native elsewhere

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

The leaves are borne alternately on the stem, usually 5 to 15 centimetres (2.0 to 5.9 in) long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (−13) 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

The flowers of most species have five petals

The sharp growths along a rose stem, though commonly called "thorns", are technically prickles, outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue), unlike true thorns, which are modified stems

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip

Rose hips are high in vitamin C, are edible raw, and occasionally made into jam, jelly, marmalade, and soup, or are brewed for tea

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 other utilitarian purposes such as slope stabilization

The long cultural history of the rose has led to it being used often as a symbol

In ancient Greece, the rose was closely associated with the goddess Aphrodite

Roses are a favored subject in art and appear in portraits, illustrations, on stamps, as ornaments or as architectural elements

Some impressionists including Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir have paintings of roses among their works

"Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?"