_Flores Rosæ rubræ_; _Red Rose Petals_, _Rose Leaves_, _True Provins
Roses_; F. _Pétales de Roses rouges_, _Roses de Provins_; G.
_Essigrosenblätter_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Rosa gallica_ L., a low-growing bush, with a
creeping rhizome throwing up numerous stems. The wild form with single
flowers occurs here and there in the warmer parts of Europe,[986]
including Central and Southern Russia, and Greece; also in Asia Minor,
Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus. But the plant passes into so many
varieties, and has from a remote period been so widely cultivated, that
its distribution cannot be ascertained with any exactness. As a garden
plant it exists under a multitude of forms.
=History=—The use in medicine of the rose dates from a very remote
period. Theophrastus[987] speaks of roses being of many kinds,
including some with double flowers which were the most fragrant; and
he also alludes to their use in the healing art. Succeeding writers
of every age down to a recent period have discussed the virtues of
the rose,[988] which however is scarcely now admitted to possess any
special medicinal property.
[983] Johnston in his _Travels in Southern Abyssinia_ (1844), speaking
of koso, says its effects are “_dreadfully severe_.”—Even in Abyssinia,
he adds, it is barely tolerated, and if any other remedy equally
efficient for dislodging tapeworm were to be introduced, koso would be
soon abandoned.
[984] _Reise nach Abessinien_, etc. Jena, 1868. 322.
[985] Jobi Ludolfi _Historia æthiopica_, Francofurti, 1681. lib. i.
cap. ix.
[986] It has been found in _quasi_-wild state at Charlwood in
Surrey.—_Seemann’s Journ. of Bot._ ix. (1871) 273.
[987] _Hist. Plant._ lib. vi. c. 6.
[988] Consult in particular the learned essay of D’Orbessan contained
in his _Mélanges historiques_, ii. (1768) 297-337.
One of the varieties of _R. gallica_ is the _Provins Rose_, so called
from having been long cultivated at Provins, a small town about 60
miles south-east of Paris, where it is said to have been introduced
from the East by Thibaut VI., Count of Champagne, on his return
from the Crusades, A.D. 1241. But it appears that he went then to
Navarre and in later times never resided in the Champagne. Be this as
it may, Provins became much celebrated not only for its dried rose
petals, but also for the conserve, syrup and honey of roses made
from them,—compositions which were regarded in the light of valuable
medicines.[989]
It is recorded that when, in A.D. 1310, Philippe de Marigny, archbishop
of Sens, made a solemn entry into Provins, he was presented by the
notables of the town with wine, spices, and _Conserve of Roses_; and
presents of dried roses and of the conserve were not considered beneath
the notice of Catherine de Medicis, and of Henry IV.[990]
We find that Charles Estienne, in 1536, mentions both the _Rosæ
purpureæ odoratissimæ_, which he says are called _Provinciales_, and
those known to the druggists as _incarnatæ_,—the latter we presume a
_pale_ rose.[991] _Rosæ rubeæ_ are named as an ingredient of various
compound medicines by Valerius Cordus.[992]
=Production=—The flowers are gathered while in bud and just before
expansion, and the petals are cut off near the base, leaving the paler
claws attached to the calyx. They are then carefully and rapidly dried
by the heat of a stove, and having been gently sifted to remove loose
stamens, are ready for sale. In some districts the petals are dried
entire, but the drug thus produced is not so nice.
In England, the Red Rose is cultivated at Mitcham, though now only to
the extent of about 10 acres. It is also grown for druggists’ use in
Oxfordshire and Derbyshire. At Mitcham, it is now called _Damask Rose_,
which is by no means a correct name. The English dried roses command a
high price.
There is a much more extensive cultivation of this rose on the
continent at Wassenaar and Noordwijk in Holland; in the vicinity of
Hamburg and Nuremberg in Germany, and in the villages round Paris and
Lyons. Roses are still, we believe, grown for medicinal use at Provins,
but are no longer held in great esteem.
There appears to be a considerable production of dried roses in Persia,
judging from the fact that in the year 1871-72, 1163 cwt. were exported
from the Persian Gulf to Bombay.[993]
=Description=—The petals adhere together loosely in the form of little
cones, or are more or less crumpled and separate. When well preserved,
they are crisp and dry, with a velvety surface of an intense purplish
crimson, a delicious rosy odour, and a mildly astringent taste. The
white basal portion of the petals should be nearly absent. For making
the confection, the petals are required in a fresh state.
=Chemical Composition=—Red rose petals impart to ether, without losing
their colour, a soft yellow substance, which is a mixture of a solid
fat and _Quercitrin_. Filhol has shown (1864) that it is the latter
body, and not tannic acid, of which the petals contain but a trace,
that produces the dark greenish precipitate with ferric salts. The same
chemist found in the petals 20 per cent. (?) of glucose which, together
with colouring matter and gallic acid, is extracted by alcohol after
exhaustion by ether. According to Rochleder (1867), the gallic acid in
red roses is accompanied by querci-tannic acid.
[989] Pomet, _Hist. des Drogues_, 1694, part i. 174-177, speaks of the
roses of Provins being “hautes en couleur, c’est à dire d’un rouge
noir, velouté ... très astringentes.”
[990] Assier, _Légendes, curiosités et traditions de la Champagne et de
la Brie_, Paris. 1860. 191.
[991] Stephanus (Carolus), _De re hortens libellus_, Paris, 1536. 29
(in Brit. Mus.).
[992] _Dispensatorium_, 1548. 39. 52.
[993] _Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the Presidency of
Bombay for_ 1871-72, pt. ii. 43.
The colouring matter which is so striking a constituent of the petals,
is according to Senier an acid, which appears to form crystallizable
salts with potassium and sodium.[994] An infusion of the petals is pale
red, but becomes immediately of a deep and brilliant crimson if we add
to it an acid, such as sulphuric, hydrochloric, acetic, oxalic, or
tartaric. An alkali changes the pale red, or the deep crimson in the
case of the acidulated infusion, to bright green.
=Uses=—An infusion of red rose petals, acidulated with sulphuric acid
and slightly sweetened, is a very common and agreeable vehicle for some
other medicines. The confection made by beating up the petals with
sugar, is also in use.