September 2019
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CONSERVATION AND HERITAGE COMMITTEE - ISSUE 20, SEPTEMBER 2019. Welcome Contents From XXX FOREWORD Welcome to this Heritage Roses eNewsletter…… Welcome ........................................................................ 1 Any rose seen alone, just for itself, certainly IN THISFrom ISSUE. Nimet Monasterly. -‐Gilbert ................................ 1 is beautiful, but knowing something of its Postcards from Lyon ...................................................... 1 FOREWORD From the Editors Page 1 historical context can enhance the rose From Helga Brichet .................................................... 1 fancier’s interest and appreciation. In this THEEmpress MYTH Josephine OF SAPPHO Garden............................................ Page 2 2 issue our roses are imbued with the scent by Håkan Kjellin Heading 1 ....................................................................... 2 of history, starting with the Swedish writer Håkan Kjellin’s meditation on the poetess TALESHeading AND 2 ................................................................ TRAILS ... 2 Sappho and the “Queen of Roses.” Next, Jeff OF CENTIFOLIAS Page 4 Wyckoff’s deep research into the question by Jeff Wyckoff “What exactly are the Centifolias?” is a fascinating trip into rose history. Darrell g. h. ROSES FROM THE DAWN OF THE GLOBAL AGE Page 10 Schramm presents nine roses that highlight by Darrell g.h. Schramm Postcards events and personalities from from Lyon the mid-19th Fromcentury. XXXet Girija and Viru Viraraghavan discuss HOW ROSES REACHED INDIA… Page 19 the many ways how during more than two by Girija and Viru Viraraghavan The millennia trip “foreign” to Lyon roses was might filled have reached with wonderful heritage gardens….the India subcontinent. Finally, please note REMEMBERING DAVID RUSTON Page 26 by David and Crenagh Elliott the newly formed WFRS panel of specialists available to help any rose lover identify . NEW WFRS ROSE I.D. PANEL Page 27 “what’s that rose growing in my garden?” . from Brigid Quest-Ritson . Our authors and ourselves are always NEXT CONVENTIONS Page 28 . interested in hearing from readers, and BOOKS & THINGS Page 29 . any article proferred will be most carefully considered. We are Nimet Monasterly-Gilbert . OBITUARY FOR SAM McGREDY Page 30 and Alan Gilbert at: [email protected] from Derek Lawrence * * * Note: Authors retain full copyright to all of their works. Jhjjhj Please contact the author(s) directly for permission to reprint any articles or images. klj “BY ANY OTHER NAME“- SEPTEMBER 2019 Newsletter of the World Federation of Rose Societies, No 12, July 2015 |- 1 - THE MYTH OF SAPPHO AND THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS By Håkan Kjellin Sometimes a claim is repeated so many times that it becomes a fact and one such claim concerns the rose as the queen of flowers. In a great many texts about the rose, from lavishly illustrated coffee-table books to more scholarly works to simple texts on the Internet, the rose is introduced in words like “the Greek poet Sappho celebrated the rose as the queen of flowers”. But did she really? The first time I came across such a claim it made me pause, because I did not remember it at all from my reading of Sappho. In what fragment (Sappho’s poetry has survived only in fragments—with one possible exception) was the rose celebrated as the queen of flowers? I re-read all of Sappho in various editions and translations, which was quickly done since not many lines have been preserved, and came up with–nothing. Sappho mentions the rose a couple of times, but only in standard phrases like “Eos with rosy arms”, “rose-like Graces”. So where have all these writers about the rose got the idea of Sappho writing about the rose as the queen of flowers? I went back in time. Among the poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) I found the following poem which in one edition is called “A translation of Sappho”: Song of The Rose If Zeus chose us a King of the flowers in his mirth, He would call to the rose, and would royally crown it; For the rose, ho, the rose! is the grace of the earth, Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it! For the rose, ho, the rose! is the eye© of the flowers, Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves fair, Is the lightning of beauty that strikes through the bowers On pale lovers that sit in the glow unaware. Ho, the rose breathes of love! ho, the rose lifts the cup To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest! Ho, the rose having curled its sweet leaves for the world Takes delight in the motion its petals keep up, Rosa alba ~ ‘Sappho’ http://roses.shoutwiki.com/wiki As they laugh to the wind as it laughs from the west. It is hard to imagine anything less like Sappho’s poetry and yet it has been quoted as an example of how admired the rose was already in ancient Greece. Are the words Browning’s own or had she possibly read J.-L.-A. Loiseleur Deslongchamp’s book La rose, son histoire, sa culture, sa poésie (1844)? “BY ANY OTHER NAME“- SEPTEMBER 2019 - 2 - Because there you find “If Jove had wanted to give the flowers a queen, the Rose would have been that queen” and he goes on using words that are almost identical to Browning’s. The anthology Anacréon, Sapho, Bion et Moschus: traduction nouvelle en prose (Paris 1773) is named as his source, and in that book one finds the following words, recognizable from Browning’s and Loiseleur Desclongchamp’s texts: If Jove had wanted to give the flowers a queen, the Rose would have been the queen of all flowers. She is the jewel of the ground, the splendour of the plants, the eye of the flowers, the dazzling colour of the meadows, a radiant beauty. She breathes Love, she attracts and holds Venus. All her leaves are a delight, her shining red bud opens up in infinite grace and smiles in an exquisite manner at loving zephyrs. Apart from the fact that this “fragment of Sappho” cannot be found in any modern edition of the poet and that the tone and contents are immeasurably far from Sappho’s poetry, the whole of this text is taken from Achilles Tatius’ little second© century romance Clitophon and Leucippe. In one scene the girl Leucippe is singing in a garden: “If Zeus had wished to give the flowers a king, that king would have been the rose; for it is the ornament of the world, the glory of the plants, the eye of all flowers, the meadows' blush, beauty itself glowing; it has the breath of Love, it is the go-between of Aphrodite; its foliage is of sweet-smelling leaves, it glories in its rustling petals which seem to smile at the approach of the Zephyr.” Thus she sang; but to me it seemed as if I saw that rose upon her lips, as it were flower© converted into the shape of her sweet mouth. It seems, then, as if this is the origin of the “queen of the flowers”. How Achilles Tatius has turned into Sappho is a mystery, but clearly a whole lot of writers about the rose ought to make some changes in their texts. * * * Håkan Kjellin was born in 1942 and grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, where he still lives. Having a Ph.D. in General and Comparative Literature, he has taught Swedish, Philosophy, English and Information Theory. After retirement he became active in the Swedish National Rose Society, of which he is presently the Secretary. In 2017 he published in Swedish his book about the cultural history of the rose in Europe© “Rosens knopp âr nâktergalens hjârta” (“The Rose Bud is the Nightingale’s Heart”). A version of this article originally appeared in the Journal of the Swedish National Rose society. He may be contacted at: [email protected] “BY ANY OTHER NAME“- SEPTEMBER 2019 - 3 - TALES AND TRAILS OF THE CENTIFOLIAS TALES AND TRAILS OF THE CENTIFOLIAS By Jeff Wyckoff By Jeff Wyckoff “in the absence of facts, myth rushes in …” Stacey Schiff, “Cleopatra: A Life” “in the absence of facts, myth rushes in…” Stacey Schiff, “Cleopatra: A Life” Myth, legend, fable, or in newspeak, “misinformation.” As one of the world’s mostMyth, belovedlegend, fable,and oldest or in newspeak,flowers, roses “misinformation abound with.” suchAs one tales: of thethe world’s“twice bloomingmost beloved rose andof Paestum”,oldest flowers, the rosesfair Rosamund/Rosa abound with such Mundi tales: stories, the “twice the Lancastriansblooming rose and ofYorkists Paestum”, riding theinto battlefair Rosamund/Rosa with roses on their Mundi doublets stories,. All have the beenLancastrians given credence and Yorkists by authors riding who,into battlelike Winston with roses Churchill, on their in doubletshis “Histor. Ayll of have the Englishbeen given Speaking credence People by authorss,” regarded who, likethe WinstonRosamund Churchill, legend(s) in his as “Historan “excellenty of the tale”.English Speaking Peoples,” regarded the Rosamund legend(s) as an “excellent© tale”. Few plants are more beset by myths than are rosesFew plants and, arewith more the besetpossible by myths exception than areof Damasks,roses and, no with old therose possible family hasexception accrued of moreDamasks, supposition no old thanrose have family the has Centi accruedfolias. Hardmore suppositionfacts concerning than have their the origin, Centi folias.their parentage,Hard facts andconcerning their developmenttheir origin, theirare disputedparentage,—and and often their much development disputed. It areis dauntingdisputed —toand separate often fact much from disputed.fiction. It is daunting to separate fact from fiction. Starting with the basics, we are repeatedly toldStarting that with “Centifolia”the basics, wemeans are repeatedly“hundred petaltold edthat”, when“Centifolia” in contemporary means “hundredLatin it meanspetaled ”“hundred, when leavedin contemporary.” Theophrastus Latin (the it Greekmeans “Father “hundred of Botany”)leaved.” andTheophrastus Pliny the Elder (the (theGreek Roman “Father writer of Botany”) on botany and who Pliny took the up Elder the term(the Romanand established writer on botanyLatin as who the took “language up the ofterm Botany”) and established could not Latinpossibly as the have “language meant lofiterally Botany”) “hundred could leaved,”not possibly or couldhave meantthey? Rosa centifolia foliacea Probablyliterally “hundrednot, unless leaved,” we imagine or could30 ft.