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All the original roses were five-petalled, but double roses have existed since long before any surviving records were made. These are really freaks, in that many of their stamens have been metamorphosed into petals. The earliest roses are usually referred to as rose species. They vary in color from white to deep pink and dull red, while yellow is represented by the double Rosa hemispherica (R. sulfhured) and, probably of earlier origin, the single JR. foetida (the Yellow Austrian Briar) -Plate 3-, a very misleading name, for its original habitat was from Crimea to Thibet, far from Austria. Its companion, R. foetida var. hicolor, is the only bicoloured species, having, in most flowers, petals that are of a deep copper colour on the inner side and vivid yellow on the reverse; in some of its flowers yellow appears in stripes, on half a petal, or even more, in place of the darker colour.

R. centifolia (the Cabbage Rose, Hundred Petalled Rose, or Provence Rose) in the gardens of Midas is described by Herodotus (about 484-425 B.C.), "The Father of History". Hippocrates (460-361 B.C.), Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Virgil (70-19 b.c.), Ovid (43 B.c-A.D.17), Horace (65-8 B.C.), and Juvenal (a.d. 60-140) all laud the rose. Omar Khayyam (a.d. 1050-1123) knew R. damascena (the Damask Rose)-Plate 63-, and it still grows on his grave at Nishapur. Pliny (about a.d. 23-79) ^m hi^s Naturalis historia mentions twelve varieties, including R. centifolia, though most of them are singles.

In the House of Frescoes at Knossus, Crete, is the earliest known European depiction of a rose, painted about 1550 B.C. It had six petals instead of the usual five-probably an error.

Theophrastus (about 372-278 B.C.), "the Father of Botany", writes of the rose at great length and shows a remarkable knowledge of its characteristics, its distribution over the then known world, and its cultivation, including planting, pruning, and growing from cuttings or seed. He also writes of the manufacture of rose perfume.

Britain has few indigenous species, and most of these were widely scattered over Europe so early that it is impossible to state the actual place of origin. Travellers, traders, and the Crusaders took seeds and plants home from many countries.