The Damask Rose.
Also see: The Dog Rose, or Wild Rose - The Damask Rose - The White Rose - The Red Rose
Rosa damascena.
A common shrub in our gardens, very much resembling that in our hedges last mentioned. It grows five or six feet high, but the stalks are not very strong, or able to support themselves. They are round, and beset with sharp prickles. The leaves are each composed of two or three pairs of smaller ones, with an odd one at the end: they are whitish, hairy, and broad, and are indented at the edges. The flowers are large and very beautiful, of a pale red colour, full of leaves, and of an extremely sweet smell; the fruit is like the common hip.
The flowers are used. The best way of giving them is in a syrup thus made. Pour boiling water upon a quantity of fresh gathered damask roses, just enough to cover them; let them stand four and twenty hours, then press off the liquor, and add to it twice the quantity of sugar; melt this, and the syrup is completed: it is an excellent purge for children and there is not a better medicine for grown people, who are subject to be costive. A little of it taken every night will keep the body open continually; medicines that purge strongly, bind afterwards. Rose water is distilled from this kind.
