"Oh, no man knows through what wild centuries roves back the rose"

This is, even now, shaping up to be one of those weeks, so let me give you something, small, quickly, and hope that I'll be able to write something more substantial later.

Here is Rosa gallica versicolor, the Rosa Mundi, blooming now in my garden:



Rosa Mundi is a naturally-occuring sport of Rosa gallica officinalis, the Apothecary's Rose. The Apothecary's is at least mediaeval, and possibly older, but the earliest description of the striped sport seems from the 16th C. There is a legend floating around that Rosa Mundi is named for the unfortunate mistress of Henry II, and that it was planted on her grave by the grieving king; I haven't tried to trace the origins of the legend yet but wouldn't be surprised to find it's post-medieval.

Walter de la Mare