Roses Are A Symbol Of Many Things, Not Just Love
We can all agree on their universal message, but, in some historical periods, they were assigned additional meanings. Some of them you may be familiar with already, but others may catch you off guard.
THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL FLOWER
On November 20, 1986, the rose was declared the United States National Flower by President Ronald Reagan, during a special ceremony hosted at the White House Rose Garden. Among other things, he stated: “More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion, of beauty and eternity…”
MANY STATES HOLD ROSES AS STATE FLOWERS
Not only do the United States as a whole have roses as their symbol, but also Georgia, New York, Iowa, North Dakota and Washington, D.C hold different varieties as their state flowers.
THE ANCIENT GREECE PERIOD
In ancient Greece, the rose flower was a symbol closely associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, sexuality, and beauty. According to the beliefs of this time, red roses came to be when Aphrodite met her lover, Adonis. He was wounded by a wild boar, and a mixture of his blood and Aphrodite’s tears produced a red rose bush when they hit the ground.
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THE WAR OF ROSES
They say all is fair in love and war. Well, roses saw their appearance not only in love, but in war as well. War of The Roses was a name given to a conflict in England between 1455 and 1485, where a red rose represented the Lancaster house, feuding against the house of York, which was represented by a white rose.
The Biology Of Roses
When you think of a rose, there is a very specific image and view of it in your mind. However, as biology shows, we only tie the idea of roses to a few specific types. Here’s what science has to say about the family of roses.
ETYMOLOGY OF ROSES – HOW ROSES GOT THEIR NAME
Since we are talking about biology, let’s quickly talk about the Latin term for roses, Rosa. As Latin is the foundation of most biology terms, but also many modern languages, it’s a term known throughout the world. It’s believed this Latin term came into the language from Greek rhódon (Aeolic wródon), itself borrowed from Old Persian wrd- (wurdi).
ORIGIN OF ROSES
Roses hail from the plant genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, a very wide and diverse family. This genus is subdivided into four subgenera: Hulthemia, Hesperrhodos, Platyrhodon and the Rosa subgenus, containing all roses which aren’t a part of other subsections. The rose family contains over 300 species, and thousands of cultivated or hybrid types of roses.
ROSES OF THE WORLD’S CONTINENTS
Most rose species are native to the Asia continent, with a lot of them being native to North America, and the least to Europe and Africa. In modern times, roses have spread to every continent and corner of the world. Not a lot of rose species are native to South America, for example, yet some of the most beautiful modern roses can be found there. Our Glam Fleur roses come from the rose fields of Ecuador, and they are the prettiest we’ve ever come across.
WILD ROSES
Compared to traditional cultivated roses, wild roses bloom only once a year, and they depend on insects for pollination. Many rose species found in the wild, or sometimes even cultivated, differ from traditional roses. They don’t grow as a single flower necessarily, and include shrubs, climbers, trailers and groundcovers. They come in every imaginable color, with only blue roses being extremely rare and needing special cultivation.
Roses Are An Ancient Flower
Our love of roses wasn’t born overnight. In fact, rose flowers have accompanied us for thousands of years as decorative pieces, and have been in the wild for millions of years before that. Without diving too deep into their history, which we covered in a different article, here are some of the most fascinating historical facts:
THE COLORADO FOSSIL
Did you know that fossils uncovered at the Colorado’s Florissant Fossil Beds prove roses have been around for at least 35-40 million years. That’s not as long as some other flowers, but it’s still very impressive, considering modern humans are believed to have evolved less than 300,000 years ago.
DOCUMENTED HISTORY OF ROSES
As for their documented history, roses have been mentioned throughout historic records for nearly 5 thousand years, and it’s safe to assume their organized cultivation predates even this period, which is supported by archeological findings.
CULTIVATION OF ROSES
Roses may not be the oldest flower, but they are believed to be the oldest flower cultivated specifically for decoration. They were grown in Mesopotamia in the period of 2800 BC, as well as in Egypt and China during 500 BC.