What is the difference between Chinese rose, rose, and climbing rose? Teach you to quickly distinguish the three flowers

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In Western countries, a single word "Rose" encompasses all plants of the genus Rosa, but we have more refined and detailed classifications.

The red roses, white roses, pink roses, yellow roses, and the pricey Blue Enchantress usually seen at flower shops are actually all cut-flower Chinese roses. The true rose rarely appears in flower shops.

Image from the internet

So, how should Chinese rose and rose be distinguished? First, look at whether the branches have thorns; second, look at whether the flowers bloom in multiple seasons.

- Chinese rose -

Branches have thorns, thorns are sparse, blooms in multiple seasons

Chinese rose identification chart, excerpted from the "Chenshan Guidebook - Chinese Rose"

The term Chinese rose began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. Chinese rose means blooming every month.

Chinese rose flower (image from the internet)

The peony is rich and noble as spring's dawn, though the herbaceous peony flourishes only in early summer.

Only this flower blooms without complaint, occupying the spring of all four seasons in one year.

——Li Bai, "Praising the Chinese Rose"

Hand-drawn Chinese rose (image from the internet)

- Rose -

Branches have no thorns, have bristles, bristles are dense, mostly blooms in one season

Rose identification chart, excerpted from the "Chenshan Guidebook - Chinese Rose"

The term rose began in the Han Dynasty. It is said that at the highest point of Chang'an City there was a rose tree, what a magnificent sight that must have been.

The rose tree of Emperor Wu of Han's time probably looked like this! (image from the internet)

Compared with the Chinese rose, the most prominent feature of the rose is its fragrance, which can be "infused into agarwood" and can also be used as medicine.

Rose

White rose

In the Rose family, besides the most commonly mentioned Chinese rose and rose, there are also climbing rose, tumi, Banks' rose, silkworm thorn flower, Cherokee rose, yellow rose, etc., all very beautiful names, with an innate grace.

- Climbing rose -

Climbing, forming clusters, mostly blooms in one season

Climbing rose identification chart, excerpted from the "Chenshan Guidebook - Chinese Rose"

The climbing rose is also called "buy-smile flower". Legend has it that when Emperor Wu of Han and Lijuan were viewing flowers, the climbing roses had just begun to bloom, with an appearance like a smile. The emperor said: This flower is absolutely superior to a beauty's smile. Lijuan joked: Can a smile be bought? The emperor said: Yes. Lijuan then took 100 jin of gold and offered it to the emperor as money to buy a smile. The climbing rose being named buy-smile began with Lijuan.

Flowers of the wild climbing rose

The climbing rose is also called "qiangmi". Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "This plant's vines are soft and trailing, growing against walls, hence the name qiangmi." Therefore, almost all poems praising the climbing rose emphasize its "trailing" characteristic with heavy ink and vivid color.

Leaning against the wall and facing the door, it spreads itself out, making a poor household seem not poor.

Though it spreads fragrance outside and seems to smile at the sun, it contains sharp prickles within that want to hurt people.

Its clear fragrance often arises in distant breezes, and its wild vines soon reach the four neighbors.

——[Tang] Lu Guimeng, "Climbing Rose"

The climbing rose grows against the wall (image from the internet)

- Banks' rose -

Has yellow and white colors, double-petaled or single-petaled, commonly seen in the south

Banks' rose flower, photographed at Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden

Yellow Banks' rose flower, photographed at Shanghai Botanical Garden

Single-petaled white Banks' rose (image from the internet)

Single-petaled yellow Banks' rose, the native single-petaled small flowers are already hard to see in their true form (image from the internet)

- Tumi -

When tumi blooms, the flowering season is over

The most famous and also the most elusive; this name has not yet been included in the flora, and flower enthusiasts mostly regard the large-flowered white Banks' rose as "tumi".

Large-flowered white Banks' rose (image from the internet)

Compared with the yellow Banks' rose, the flowers are indeed two or three sizes larger (image from the internet)

In addition, the plant-world internet celebrity Manmei, based on verified materials, believes that the double-petaled bramble is the true form of "tumi" that best fits mainstream aesthetics. This flower is double-petaled, pure white, delicately fragrant, large, climbing, and blooms in late spring, all as stated in the poem:

Once the plum powder fades from its lingering makeup, it paints new red on the crabapple.

When tumi blooms, the flowering season is over, and thread by thread the sky-thorn emerges from the mossy wall.

——Wang Qi, "Spring Outing in a Small Garden"

Double-petaled bramble, said to be cultivated in Japan (image from the internet)

- Silkworm thorn flower (sāo) -

The whole plant is covered with "thorns", like a rose, commonly seen in the south

Flower buds of the silkworm thorn flower

Single-petaled silkworm thorn flower

Double-petaled silkworm thorn flower, texture like a rose, charm like a peony (image from the internet)

The fruit of the silkworm thorn flower is covered with hard prickles, commonly called "cili", and tastes quite good (image from the internet)

- Cherokee rose -

Covered all over with thorns, flowers solitary in leaf axils

Flowers single-petaled and white, at first glance like a wild climbing rose several sizes larger, commonly seen in the mountains and fields of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area.

Cherokee rose flowers solitary in leaf axils

Pruned into this tree's elegant posture, it is also very dashing (image from the internet)

The glandular hairs on the pedicels and calyx tubes of the Cherokee rose will turn into needle-like prickles as the fruit grows

(image from the internet)

The mature pear-shaped fruit of the Cherokee rose; the dense needle-like prickles are very easy to rub off. Try this fruit, it is very delicious (image from the internet)

- Yellow rose -

Common in the north, covered all over with thorns, always with a wild, clawing appearance

The prickles of the single-petaled yellow rose, with an appearance of "do not provoke me"

Single-petaled yellow rose; although the petals have faded, they are still golden and bright

Double-petaled yellow rose; the flowers are larger than the yellow Banks' rose, but not layered over and over like Banks' rose

Double-petaled yellow rose, photographed at Beijing Botanical Garden

In April, the world's fragrances are all gone, and climbing roses, roses, and Chinese roses bloom one after another. Now that you know so many ladies of the Rose family, when walking in the world of May, do not get confused again~

Text and images: Yu Zan

Editor: Nan Zhu

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