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“ The thorns serve the purpose of enabling the shrub to sustain itself amid other vegetation, and perhaps in some sort serve as a protection against marauders. The viscid hairs which are specially frequent on the flower stalks or in the neighbourhood of the flower serve to arrest the progress of undesirable visitants, while the perfume emitted by the glands in question may co-operate with the fragrance and colour of the flower to attract those insects whose presence is desirable. ”

“ In the dry season the dead branches are strongly incurved, and thus serve to protect the still living seed in the pods. In the wet season the branches absorb the moisture to a large extent, unfold, resume the direction they had in life, and facilitate the dispersion of the seed under circumstances favourable to germination. ”

“ While the lowest estimate is doubtless too low, the highest is enormously too large, but in any case the wide discrepancies above alluded to illustrate very forcibly the extreme variability of the plants, their adaptibility to various conditions, and consequently their wide dispersion over the globe, the facility with which they are cultivated, and the readiness with which new varieties are continually being produced in gardens by the art of the hybridizer or the careful selection of the raiser. ”

“ By repeated radial and tangential branching a vast number of stamens are ultimately produced, and when these stamens assume a petaloid aspect we have as a consequence the double flowers which are so much admired. The carpels are much less subject to this petaloid change, and, as it generally happens in the most double of roses that some few at least of the anthers are formed with pollen, the production of seed and the possibility of cross-breeding become intelligible. ”

“ The carpels are concealed within the receptacular tube and only the stigmas as a rule protrude from its mouth. Each carpel contains one ovule without perisperm. The so-called fruit is merely the receptacular tube, which, as previously mentioned, becomes fleshy and brightly coloured as an attraction to birds, which devour the hips and thus secure the dispersion of the seed. The stamens are in whorls, and, according to Payer, they originate in pairs one on each side of the base of each petal (parapetalous) , so that there are ten in each row ”