rose – n., any prickly bush or shrub of the genus Rosa (family Rosaceae), bearing usu. fragrant flowers generally of a red, pink, yellow, or white colour.

You love the roses - so do I. I wish the sky would rain down roses, as they rain from off the shaken bush. Why will it not? Then all the valley would be pink and white and soft to tread on. They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

According to fossil evidence, it is suggested that roses are 35 million years old and were cultivated for gardens about 5,000 years ago in China. They have been used as symbols of love, beauty, war and in politics and have been used for medicinal purposes and as a source of perfume. Currently there are thousands of varieties of roses developed for bloom shape, size, fragrance and even for lack of thorns.

The name originates from the Latin rosa. The scientific classification is :