"Centifolia" means in Latin "one hundred leaves", but here it means "one hundred petals". These roses are complex hybrids obtained in the second half of the 16th century by Dutch nurserymen by successive crossing of "R. canina" with "R. gallica"; "R. phoenicia" "R. moschata". In 1596 Clusius writes about a rose with 120 petals which Jan Van Hogheland has given him. John Gerard in 1596 and 1597 writes of "The Great Holland Rose" and in 1601 baptizes it "R. x centifolia botanica". The species, "R. x centifolia", is a plant with strong branches up to m. 1,80 high. Its thorns are partly transformed in glands or in prickles Short buds open into pendulous fully double dark pink flowers with a wondeful perfume. It is not sterile, but it cannot be fertilized naturally, because the "hundred leaves" cover the stamens and the pystil.
Centifolia Rose
Centifolia is a species of rose already known in Roman times from Asia Minor. It was the Dutch, in the 16th century, who imported around 200 species into Europe.
