A Rose by Any Other Name

Nowadays, we generally grow roses as an ornamental plant in the landscape; so why would the rose be considered an herb? To answer that, you need to define what an herb is. We are all familiar with culinary herbs such as parsley and sage used to add flavor to our food, but historically herbs have been utilized for much more than cooking.

Herbs are plants grown and harvested for their essential oils, aromatic compounds found in foliage, flowers and stems that serve the plant as attractants or protectants. Herbs have been used for thousands of years in every human civilization. In addition to cooking, herbs were used for medicine, cosmetics and fragrances; for arts and crafts such as dyeing fabric; for pest control and home cleanliness; and for their ornamental value. One plant could serve as food, flavor, tea, medicine, and insecticide; dose and preparation determined use.

Historically, of course, the healing properties of herbs were a primary reason these plants were grown. Today, we rely on modern medicine to provide healing care. So-called “medicinal” herbs contain potent compounds which can be dangerous if misused or overused, so it is best to enjoy herbs for all the other benefits they bestow.

So, long before it was admired for the beauty of its flowers, the rose was grown primarily for medicine, fragrance, and cooking. Roses used historically were naturally occurring species or ancient hybrids, such as gallicas, albas, damasks, and centifolias, that are still grown today.

Rose flowers contain up to eleven different essential oils, in varying combinations and concentrations, which give different varieties their distinctive fragrances. In general, the most fragrant flowers are darker in color, or have more petals, or have thick, velvety petals.

Petals were harvested, soaked, heated, dried, macerated; mixed with oil, honey, wine, vinegar or water; made into syrups, conserves or jellies; or distilled to create rose water or rose oil (attar) that was then used in myriad ways. Rosehips (the fruit of the rose) and buds were also harvested and used.

 Early Greek and Roman physicians and herbalists noted numerous uses for roses: curing irritations of the eyes, ears, mouth, stomach, intestines; soothing headaches, toothaches, female “hysteria,” wounds, boils, and tumors; and relieving hemorrhages and hemorrhoids. One species rose, Rosa canina, called the dog rose, was even purported to be a cure for hydrophobia (rabies).

Ancient Romans were obsessed with roses, using them for medicine, cooking, cosmetics, and fragrance. The popularity of roses for feasts and festivals threatened to undermine the production of more essential grain in foreign countries such as Egypt from whence Rome imported both crops. They held a yearly feast, the Rosalia, celebrating the rose; and a rose hung above a dining couch meant that any conversation held “sub rosa” (under the rose) was considered strictly confidential.

Early Christians decried the rose because of its association with the pagan hedonism of Rome; but gradually, the Christian Church accepted the rose as a potent symbol: a white rose for the purity of the Virgin Mary; and a red rose for the blood of martyrs. Traditionally, the crown of thorns was made from stems of the dog rose. By this association with blood, according to the Doctrine of Signatures employed in medieval medicine, roses were thus good for treating blood conditions, such as hemorrhages.

During the Middle Ages, “ages before chicken soup attained cure-all status, nature’s wonder drug was a rose.” The most widely used rose during this era was the Apothecary’s Rose, Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’.  Its astringent petals were often concocted with other herbs, in recipes listed in herbals and stillroom “receipt books”, to make potions or lotions used for just about every imaginable ailment; but its fragrance also helped to disguise the bitter tastes of other herbs. Roses were used in toothpaste (a “rubber for the teeth”), laundry soaps, and supposedly youth-restoring cosmetics, as well as to freshen the air inside homes before people finally understood that outside air was not fatal.

During the 19^th century, rose water was still widely used as a flavoring and a fragrance, but less so as a medicine, although rosehips were valued as a nutritious fruit during long winters. Rosehips have since been found to be one of the richest sources of vitamin C of any fruit; during World War II, when citrus fruit was impossible to get, the English harvested and processed tons of rosehips from their own gardens to provide a reliable source of vitamin C.

Today, we enjoy roses by the thousands on parade floats, in bouquets, in perfumes, or in our gardens; and although its use for health has dwindled, the lore of the alluring rose extends much wider and farther into the mists of time.