ROSE - Know your HERBS -

**Admin** Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:00 am

The botanical names for Rose are Rosa spp, Syn. Rosa alba, R.gallica, R.damascena, and R. centifolia.

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing or trailing with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colors ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 7 meters in height.

The parts of the rose used, are: Hips, flower petals, leaves, & bark.

The nutritional value of rose is as follows: vitamin b, vitamins c (up to 1.7%), e, and k, tannin, and pectin

Health Benefits of Rose

When we think of roses as a medicinal herb, we tend to think only of the high vitamin C content of the rosehips, but this represents only a fraction of the healing powers of this garden favorite.

Rose petals suitable for medicinal purposes must yield a deep rose-colored, astringent and fragrant infusion when boiling water is poured upon them. Rose and rose bark are astringent and help staunch bleeding from scrapes and cuts and rose petals turn an everyday bath into a luxurious spa treatment for the body and spirit. Astringent and luxurious rose oils and rose waters are welcome additions to almost any natural beauty and skin care formulation. The rose holds a special place in facial skin care. Rosewater can be used alone as a facial wash, or incorporated in lotions and creams. Homemade rosewater is inexpensive, easy to make and better quality than one can find commercially. Attar of rose is one of the oldest and best known of all the oils used in aromatherapy. Rose oil is steam-extracted from the flowers. While it is very expensive only a few precious drops are needed to impart the fragrance and affect the mood. Sensual and evocative, the rose has been used since ancient times as a favorite ingredient in love potions and as an aphrodisiac. The scent of roses is a time honored anti-depressant and creates a feeling of well being and mild euphoria. It reduces anxiety connected with sex, helping calms emotions that block arousal.

Botany -
The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species they are 5 to 15 centimetres (2.0 to 5.9 in) long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous but a few (particularly from South east Asia) are evergreen or nearly so.

The flowers of most species have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea, which usually has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some Rosa sericea, four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into achenes.

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Many of the domestic cultivars do not produce hips, as the flowers are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa pimpinellifolia) have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds" (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa), are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant.

While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called "thorns", they are technically prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). (True thorns, as produced by e.g. Citrus or Pyracantha, are modified stems, which always originate at a node and which have nodes and internodes along the length of the thorn itself.) Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa rugosa and Rosa pimpinellifolia have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots (both of these species grow naturally on coastal sand dunes). A few species of roses have only vestigial prickles that have no points.