ROSE, with many-flowered panicles, scented like musk; seed-bud
egg-shaped; peduncles villose; petioles prickly; the leaflets are
oblong, acuminated, and smooth; the spines of the branches are
large, scattered, and straight.
* * * * *
As a perfectly distinct species, the present figure is well deserving of
notice. Its flowers are numerous, of a soft creamy white, and which are
supposed to emit an odour resembling the perfume called musk. A specific
name thus derived, we should not hold in much estimation were the plant
ever so deficient in descriptive character; but as the reverse is
obvious in the present instance, it is still the more objectionable.
Were it, therefore, a name of recent introduction, we should certainly
take the liberty of altering it; but, as it has been long known under
the title of Musk Rose, however vague and imperfect the reference, we do
not think ourselves authorized to change it.
It is a native of the island of Madeira, and a very desirable rose,
although by no means splendid; but as one of the latter blowing it is a
considerable addition, as it illumines that part of autumn, when the
major part of this luxuriant tribe have ceased to bloom.
Our figure was made from a fine plant in the nursery of Messrs. Whitley
and Brames, Old Brompton.
[Illustration]