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Price Guide Classification Kingdom Plantae Subkingdom Tracheobionta Superdivision Spermatophyta Division Magnoliophyta Subdivision Class Magnoliopsida Subclass Rosidae Order Rosales Family Rosaceae Genus Rosa Species R. × damascena

Rosa × damascena, more commonly known as the Damask rose or simply as "Damask", or sometimes as the Rose of Castile, is a rose hybrid, derived from Rosa gallica and Rosa moschata (Huxley 1992). Further DNA analysis has shown that a third species, Rosa fedtschenkoana, is associated with the Damask rose (Harkness 2003).

Specifications

• regnum = Plantae
• divisio = Magnoliophyta
• classis = Magnoliopsida
• ordo = Rosales
• familia = Rosaceae
• subfamilia = Rosoideae
• genus = Rosa
• species = R. × damascena
• binomial = Rosa × damascena
• binomial_authority = Mill.

Background

It is a deciduous shrub growing to 2.2 m tall, the stems densely armed with stout, curved prickles and stiff bristles. The leaves are pinnate, with five (rarely seven) leaflets.

It is considered an important type of Old Rose, also for their prominent place in the pedigree of many other types.

The crusader Robert de Brie is given credit for bringing them from Persia to Europe sometime between 1254 and 1276. The name refers to Damascus, Syria a major city in the region.

They are renowned for their fine fragrance, and their flowers are commercially harvested for rose oil used in perfumery. The perfume industry often refers to this note as Damascus rose.

The hybrid is divided in two varieties (Huxley 1992):

• Summer Damasks (R. × damascena nothovar. damascena) have a short flowering season, only in the summer.
• Autumn Damasks (R. × damascena nothovar. semperflorens (Duhamel) Rowley) have a longer flowering season, extending into the autumn; they are otherwise not distinguishable from the summer damasks.

A still popular example of R. × damascena is the Ispahan rose

The hybrid Rosa × centifolia is derived in part from Rosa × damascena

See also

• Our Lady of Guadalupe

References and external links

• Harkness, P. (2003). The Rose: An Illustrated History. Firefly.
• Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.
• Damask Rose