_Cynosbata_; _Fruit of the Dog-rose_, _Hips_; F. _Fruits de
Cynorrhodon_; G. _Hagebutten_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Rosa canina_ L., a bush often 10 to 12 feet high,
found in hedges and thickets throughout Europe except Lapland and
Finland, and reaching the Canary Islands, Northern Africa, Persia and
Siberia; universally dispersed throughout the British Islands.[1030]
=History=—The fruits of the wild rose, including other species besides
_R. canina_ L., have a scanty, orange, acid, edible pulp, on account
of which they were collected in ancient times when garden fruits were
few and scarce. Galen[1031] mentions them as gathered by country people
in his day, as they still are in Europe. Gerarde in the 16th century
remarks that the fruit when ripe—“maketh most pleasant meats and
banqueting dishes, as tarts and such like.“ Though the pulp of hips
preserved with sugar which is here alluded to, is no longer brought to
table, at least in this country,[1032] it retains a place in pharmacy
as a useful ingredient of pill-masses and electuaries.
=Description=—The fruit of a rose consists of the bottle-shaped calyx,
become dilated and succulent by growth, and sometimes crowned with 5
leafy segments, enclosing numerous dry carpels or achenes, containing
each one exalbuminous seed. The fruit of _R. canina_ called a _hip_, is
ovoid, about ¾ of an inch long, with a smooth, red, shining surface. It
is of a dense, fleshy texture, becoming on maturity, especially after
frost, soft and pulpy, the pulp within the shining skin being of an
orange colour, and of an agreeable sweetish subacid taste. The large
interior cavity contains numerous hard achenes, which, as well as the
walls of the former, are covered with strong short hairs.
For medicinal use, the only part required is the soft orange pulp,
which is separated by rubbing it through a hair sieve.
=Microscopic Structure=—The epidermis of the fruit is made up of
tabular cells containing red granules, which are much more abundant
in the pulp. The latter, as usual in many ripe fruits, consists of
isolated cells no longer forming a coherent tissue. Besides these
cells, there occur small fibro-vascular bundles. Some of the cells
enclose tufted crystals of oxalate of calcium; most of them however
are loaded with red granules, either globular or somewhat elongated.
They assume a bluish hue on addition of perchloride of iron, and are
turned blackish by iodine. The later colouration reminds one of that
assumed by starch granules under similar circumstances; yet on addition
of a very dilute solution of iodine, the granules always exhibit a
_blackish_, not a blue tint, so that they are not to be considered
as starch granules. The hairs of the pulp are formed of a single,
thick-walled cell, straight or sometimes a little crooked.
[1030] Baker, _Journ. of Linn. Soc._ Bot. xi. (1869) 226.
[1031] _De Alimentorum facultatibus_, ii. c. 14. In the Amur country a
much larger and better fruit is afforded by _R. acicularis_ Lindl. and
_R. cinnamomea_ L.—Maximowicz, _Primitiæ Floræ Amurensis_, 1859. 100.
453.
[1032] In Switzerland and Alsace a very agreeable _confiture_ of hips
is still in use.
=Chemical Composition=—The pulp examined by Biltz (1824) was found to
afford nearly 3 per cent. of citric acid, 7·7 of malic acid, besides
citrates, malates and mineral salts, 25 per cent. of gum, and 30 of
uncrystallizable sugar.
=Uses=—Hips are employed solely on account of their pulp, which mixed
with twice its weight of sugar, constitutes the _Confectio Rosæ caninæ_
of pharmacy.