Rosa x damascena, Rose of Damascus, Damask Rose

This beautiful stately rose is one of the oldest cultivated roses known. It is tall growing, 6ft, with bluish foliage and has flowers of a rich magenta red. In the original the flowers are single (or with a few extra petals). If grown on its own roots it will sucker, but not vigorously. The long blooming form of Rosa damascena ("The Quatre Saisons Rose") is to be preferred, as John Lindley noted:

"The bloom is exceedingly fragrant. R. bifera of some continental botanists is the Quatre seasons Rose of the French nurseries; and perhaps, from the long succession of its flowers, the most esteemed of all the varieties. Immense numbers in pots are sold weekly in the flower markets in Paris. I perceive no character to distinguish it, even as a variety, from the more common state of damascena, unless its smaller size be sufficient."

From: Rosarum monographia; or a botanical history of roses.

by John Lindley, printed for James Ridgway, 16a, Piccadilly.

1820.

Hurst suggested a separate origin for the summer damasks (R. gallica x R. phonicea) and the long blooming form, the so-called autumn damasks (R. gallica x R. moschata). This hypothesis, quite plausible, remained untested for over 50 years. The problem is that the summer and autumn damasks are not really different except in flowering behaviour - as Lindley correctly observed.

More recently some Japanese scientists [1] have suggested a single triparental origin for all damasks involving a first cross between the European species R. moschata (maternal parent) and R. gallica. This hybrid then crossed with the central Asian R. fedtschenkoana (from Xinjiang and Kazakhstan). If the genetic evidence for this hypothesis holds up then we are left with a historical conundrum: what strange quirk of history allowed a Mediterranean hybrid to cross with a central Asian wild rose from Kazakhstan, and where? The second mating must have taken place not much later than 1000 AD, and perhaps much before as R. damascena is an ancient rose. The origin of the damask rose is testament to the transfer of plants along the "Silk Road" between Europe and central Asia. Damask silks were woven in Damascus but the key ingredient - silk - came along the silk road from China. In the same way the damask rose was introduced to Europe from Damascus but a key ingredient - Rosa fedtschenkoana - came from China (or somewhere in central Asia).

The involvement of R. fedtschenkoana in the origin of the damasks does help to explain the morphology of the damasks - notably the greyish foliage and the pear shaped hips.

[1] H. Iwata, T. Kato, S. Ohno (2000) Triparental origin of Damask roses. Gene 259: 53–59.