I'll tell you today: what strange things happened to the rose?

At both ends of Eurasia, breeders in Europe and China are cultivating and breeding Rosa plants. When the world began to become one, the excellent achievements of the East and the West accidentally collided together, producing a more wonderful spark, which is the hybrid tea fragrant rose.

Hybrid tea fragrant rose "Princess of Monaco" Rosa "Princesse de Monaco". Picture: Yu Tianyi

For those of you who have seen the species calendar in previous years, you will know that the cut flowers we see in the flower market are all "roses" rather than "roses". But the concept of rose is also very complicated. before we talk about hybrid tea-scented rose, we need to see what "rose" and "hybrid tea-scented rose" refer to.

The rose family that is still in disarray

Rose is a general term, does not specifically refer to a species or variety, the concept of "rose" used in this paper is the same as the English concept of garden rose, generally refers to all cultivated varieties of rose, including ancient rose varieties and modern rose varieties.

The earliest European ancient rose variety "semidouble" White Rose R. × alba "Semi-plena". Picture: Yu Tianyi

Modern rose is a species (Rosa × dilecta), which generally refers to many modern rose varieties that have been bred mainly on the basis of this group since the emergence of hybrid tea fragrant rose. There are many different variety groups of modern rose, although they are influenced by different parents and have nothing in common. So if anyone asks how to distinguish between modern roses and roses. No comment.

The Floribunda variety "Angela" Rosa "Angela" looks like a rose, but it is a modern rose. Picture: Yu Tianyi

Hybrid tea fragrant rose (Rosa Hybrid Tea Group) can not be equated with modern rose, it is only a variety group of modern rose. However, the hybrid tea-scented rose is the beginning of the modern rose, and it is also the most diverse and important category of the modern rose. The image of "rose" in our mind comes from the hybrid tea-scented rose.

Hybrid tea fragrant rose "Banmiyan" Rosa "Norita". Picture: Yu Tianyi

So how did the name hybrid tea fragrant rose come from? In fact, they can also be called hybrid perfume rose. If you see this name, you may guess that this variety group is related to the Chinese perfume rose (R. × odorata). Westerners think that the taste of perfume rose is similar to that of tea, so they call its hybrid offspring tea rose, hence the name hybrid tea.

Jay Joey Rosa "Just Joey" is a famous hybrid tea fragrant rose variety. Picture: Yu Tianyi

However, in fact, hybrid tea fragrance rose is not directly derived from the Chinese perfume rose. To borrow the words of teacher Gu Yourong in his 15-year species calendar, perfume rose has "experienced some strange things in France" before that. The history of hybrid tea rose is the chaotic hybrid history of the whole ancient rose.

The story of the ancient Chinese rose

Although almost all the modern rose varieties were selected by the West, the ancient Chinese rose played a key role in the hybrid history. There are mainly two types of ancient Chinese roses involved in modern rose hybrids: perfume roses and rose flowers. They are not only natural gifts, but also the result of long-term artificial breeding. We can see hybrid tea fragrant roses today. I would also like to thank ancient Chinese breeders for their efforts.

Hybrid tea fragrant rose variety "Jixiang" Rosa "Mascotte" 77 "Photo: Yu Tianyi

China has the largest number of wild species of the genus Rosa in the world. According to the number of species recorded in the Flora of China, Rosa accounts for about half of the wild species in China, of which more than half are endemic. Rosa mainly lives in the temperate zone and subtropics of the Northern Hemisphere, and wild species of Rosa can be found in most parts of China, which provides the basis for the breeding of Chinese rose.

The Heping Rose Garden in Beijing Botanical Garden mainly cultivates hybrid tea fragrant rose. Most of the varieties in this paper (except a few ancient rose varieties) were photographed in the Rose Garden of Beijing Botanical Garden. Picture: Yu Tianyi

Chinese rose

China is also the first country to cultivate and breed rose varieties. The ancients may have begun to cultivate rose flowers since the Tang Dynasty, and rose cultivars with double large flowers appeared in the picture of ladies in the fan of Tang Zhou Fang. There is more clear evidence in the paintings of the five dynasties. In Huang Jucai's "Flower sketching Atlas", the painter accurately depicts the image of single rose, double rose and double perfume rose.

Huang Ju picked the double rose in the Flower sketching Atlas.

The meaning of rose (R. chinensis) mentioned here is different from that of "rose". It is a specific species, but the concept of this species is similar to that of peony introduced before. it is actually a collection of varieties, which refers to each "monthly red" variety selected and bred by wild single rose (R. chinensisvar.spontanea). In recent years, some studies have suggested that wild rose (R. multiflora) has also been hybridized. There is only one flower on each branchlet of wild single rose, while there are multiple flowers on the red inflorescence of Chinese moon, which may be brought by wild rose.

The ancient Chinese rose variety, the rose variety "Yueyuehong". Picture: Yu Tianyi

Since the Song Dynasty, China has gradually developed the names of "rose" and "Catharanthus roseus" (referring to the rose rather than the Catharanthus roseus of the oleander family), which indicates that the rose begins to stand out from the rose and become an independent ornamental flower. At the same time, the emergence of these two names also means that there is an important mutation in rose flowers, their flowers can continue to bloom, unlike other roses which only bloom for one season. Nowadays, this kind of rose is more often called "month red" and "moon powder", so the variety collection of rose is also called month red population.

The moon red will obviously open and close every day, and it is the most touching to be in a half-wrapped state at night. Picture: Yu Tianyi

Rosa odorata

Another important ancient Chinese rose, perfume rose, is also a hybrid, which comes from the cross between giant rose and rose. Giant flower rose, also known as large flower perfume rose, originated in western Yunnan, has been introduced and cultivated in Yunnan since ancient times. The hybrid perfume rose appears when the large and fragrant rose meets the rose that blossoms repeatedly.

The single color-changing variety of perfume rose 'yellow butterfly' R.×odorata "Mutabilis". Picture: Yu Tianyi

As the color of the giant rose itself is very varied, there are white, yellow, discoloration types, and then cross with different rose varieties, resulting in a greater variety of perfume rose colors. In addition, there are many types of flower colors of perfume rose that will change over time, and some double varieties can show different colors on the same flower. The two discolored varieties of perfume rose 'Yellow Butterfly' and 'Red Butterfly' are still very popular and are often cultivated at home and abroad.

Breeding of Old European Rose

The history of rose breeding in the West is much shorter than that in China, but several variety groups and thousands of varieties have emerged in a short period of 200 years. Although these varieties have endless changes, they actually come from only a few original species. The earliest ancient rose in Europe comes from the French rose with huge flowers. People accidentally found its double variety (R. gallica'Officinalis') and bicolor variety (R. gallica'Versicolor'), and improved and bred it. Most of the ancient and modern European roses have the pedigree of French rose.

The earliest French rose variety R. gallica "Officinalis". Picture: Yu Tianyi

Rose plants are easy to cross-species hybridization, human beings first found a lot of excellent offspring produced by accidental hybridization, only then began to take the initiative to cross breeding new varieties, the important Turkic rose (Damascus rose) is accidental. Musk roses from the Himalayas, glandular roses from Xinjiang and Central Asia, and French roses from Europe were introduced to Central Asia, cultivated together and occasionally hybridized to produce Turkic roses, which then spread widely in the Middle East. It not only has many petals like a double French rose, but also has a strong aroma of musk rose, so it is quickly used to watch and extract essential oils to make a variety of products. After it was introduced into Europe, Turk Rose also joined the breeding army.

R. moschata, one of the parents of Rosa rugosa. Picture: Yu Tianyi

Like other roses, the early varieties of Turkic roses blossomed in one season. At this time, an important Turkic rose variety "four Seasons" (R. × damascena'Quatre Saisons') appeared, which can blossom sporadically in autumn after the end of the full bloom in late spring and early summer, so it is also called Autumn Damask. Because of this characteristic, most of the ancient European roses that emerged later were based on this variety as their parent.

The most important Turkic rose (Damascus rose) variety "four Seasons" R.×damascena "Quatre Saisons". Picture: Yu Tianyi

The "four Seasons" Turkic rose first crossed with the French rose again to produce a crimson repeated flowering variety Rosa 'Scarlet Four Seasons', which was given by Italy to the Duchess of Portland, later known as the "Rosa' Duchess of Portland'" or directly known as "Portland rose" (Portland rose), so at the beginning of this variety, a new breed of Portland rose appeared.

The first Portland rose variety Rosa'Duchess of Portland'. Picture: Yu Tianyi

The "four Old species" were introduced into Europe.

In the early 19th century, another important event occurred in the history of the Chinese rose-the Europeans brought the four flowering roses from China back to the West. Among them, four main varieties make the greatest contribution to the modern rose varieties, and are now known as the "four old species":

The variety of rose "red dragon contains beads" and "Slater" s Crimson China. The bright red color of hybrid tea fragrance rose comes from it. Photo: Yu Tianyi

Two-month flower varieties: "Rosa" ("Old Blush") and "Rosa" Slater "s Crimson China")

One of the "four old species" of the ancient Chinese rose parents in modern China, and the variety of Chinese rose "Old Moon Powder" and "Old Blush". Picture: Yu Tianyi

There are two perfume varieties: "Rosa" Hume "s Blush Tea-scented China" and "Rosa" Parks "Yellow Tea-scented China".

Hugh powder halo perfume rose "Hume" s Blush Tea-scented China. The perfume rose mainly provides cup-shaped flowers and "tea fragrance" for hybrid tea roses, although it doesn't actually smell like tea. Photo: Yu Tianyi

The birth of modern rose

Europeans noticed the habit of flowering in the four Chinese roses, which ignited the enthusiasm of breeders to cross between Chinese rose varieties and European rose varieties, but the hybrid generation rarely continued to bloom. Then people found that the continuous flowering of the four seasons is a recessive trait, which requires self-crossing or cross with the Chinese rose in order to produce repeated flowering offspring.

Rose flowers bring an extremely long flowering period and bright crimson to the ancient European rose. The varieties produced by repeated hybridization between rose varieties and ancient European roses are classified as hybrid everspring roses (Hybrid Perpetual). Although the parental sources of the hybrid Changchun rose are complex, it mainly comes from the cross between Portland rose and Chinese rose.

Hybrid Changchun rose Rosa "Ulrich Brunner Fils". Most of the hybrid Changchun rose plants are thin and tall, and the branchlets are very short, which are not as compact as the hybrid tea-scented rose. Picture: Yu Tianyi

The species of perfume rose has also received great attention after it was introduced into Europe. Breeders first use it to cross with rose again, and then use it to cross with other ancient European roses, and the offspring after hybridization are backcrossed or self-crossed with perfume rose. A series of continuously flowering varieties of perfume rose are collectively called perfume rose population (Tea rose). Therefore, the rose varieties of western perfume are actually different from those of Chinese origin.

The hybrid variety "Magnolia rose" Rosa "Devoniensis" of perfume rose group. Picture: Yu Tianyi

Although many of the ancient European roses appeared at this time with the names of "four seasons" and "evergreen", their flowering period is still not long enough. A single flower will wither in less than two days, and it will only blossom occasionally in autumn. Although the perfume rose can bloom repeatedly for a long time, it is not hardy. It is often cultivated in the subtropics and can only hide in the greenhouse in the temperate zone.

In a nursery in Lyon, France, the hybrid evergreen rose and perfume rose occasionally crossed, and the first hybrid tea fragrant rose variety "Rosa'La France'" appeared, which also marked the birth of the modern rose. Hybrid tea fragrance rose has a strong aroma and goblet-shaped flowers, as well as the habit of continuous flowering in the four seasons, and at the same time more hardy, since then the history of the rose has started a new chapter.

The first hybrid tea fragrant rose variety "France". Picture: Yu Tianyi

After the emergence of hybrid tea fragrant rose, the addition of odorous rose brought new yellow and scarlet genes:

Double yellow flower odor rose R. foetida "Persica". Picture: Yu Tianyi

Two-color and odorous rose R. foetida "Bicolor". Picture: Yu Tianyi

The emergence of these hybrid varieties is accidental, but also a historical necessity. With the human migration and trade, different species of Rosa came from the East to the West, cultivated together and hybridized with each other, resulting in wonderful varieties that could not appear in nature. finally, these varieties are deeply embedded in our culture and memory.

The most famous hybrid tea variety, "Rosa" Peace, is named to commemorate people's hope for peace at the end of World War II. Picture: Yu Tianyi

This is the 147th article in the fourth year of the species calendar, from @ Yu Tianyi, author of the species calendar.

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