Rose Terms
If you're unfamiliar with roses except to buy them or receive them, you're missing out on the pleasures of growing them.
While roses can be a lot of work, the rewards they give are exceptional.
You'll have beautiful gardens, wondrous scents, and a regular supply of blooms to brighten up your or a friend's house.
You can also dry roses. They make beautiful and long-lasting gifts.
The rose terms below will help you become familiar with the types of roses, the anatomy of roses, and some of the tasks involved in growing them.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Anther | The upper portion of the stamen; contains the pollen sacs |
| Apical Meristem | Cells which did not mature at the tip of shoots and roots producing the hormone auxin |
| Antique Rose | A term referring to old roses starting from 1900s |
| Attar of roses | A volatile fragrant oil obtained from fresh roses by steam distillation |
| Auricle | The "earlike" project on the tip of the stipule |
| Auxin | The hormone regulating the bloom cycle |
| Axil | Angle on upper side where the leaf joins the stem |
| Axillary | Any bud or branch in the axil of a leaf; these grow following pruning |
| Balling | When a rose cannot bloom because of moisture keeping petals stuck together |
| Bareroot | Bare root is whereby a plant is dug out, in order to put it into a dormant state by which it has had all of the soil removed from their roots. |
| Bark | Outer layer of the cane of a rose |
| Bicolor | Rose bloom with two distinct colors |
| Blackspot | Any of several fungous diseases of plants that produce small black spots on the plant |
| Bud | Embryonic shoot that will produce either flowers or foliage, a partially opened flower or a swelling on a plant stem consisting of overlapping immature leaves or petals |
| Bud union | Area between the roots and stems where the bud of a different plant has been grafted onto the rootstock |
| Bract | A leaf that is usually smaller or shaped differently than others on the plant, growing under the peduncle just below the flower. |
| Term | Definition |
| Calyx | First is a series of flower parts which grow from the peduncle, made of sepals, usually green and leaf-like |
| Cane | Stem of the rose, either the main stem (sometimes called the trunk) or lateral stems and branches |
| Carpel | An organ which holds the ovules along its margins, part of the compound pistil |
| China | Class of cultivated roses from China |
| Climbing rose | A rose bush that will climb with support |
| Cluster-flowered rose | An European name for what the U.S.A. calls floribundas |
| Corolla | Second series of flower parts growing from the peduncle, composed of petal |
| Corymb | Flat-topped or convex inflorescence in which the individual flower stalks grow upward from various points on the main stem to approximately the same height; outer flowers open first |
| Cultivar | A variety of a plant developed from a natural species and maintained under cultivation |
| Deadheading | Remove dead flowers from a plant in order to encourage the growth of new ones and just a light trim produces better results. |
| Double degrees of fullness | Refers to the number of petals on a bloom, normally agreed to being over 40+ |
| Drainage | An essential for rose's roots, the soil must be able to keep water off the roots |
| Epsom Salts | Magnesium Sulfate. Many rose growers use 1/4 to 1/2 cups per plant |
| Filament | Stalk of the stamen supporting the anther |
| Floral tube | Cup-like structure formed by fusion of the basal parts of the sepals, petals and stamens |
| Floribunda | A class of roses that have blooms in clusters |
| Fruit | Ripe ovary containing seeds and any adjacent parts |
| Fungicide | Any agent that destroys or prevents the growth of fungi |
| Genus | Roses are a part of the genus 'Rosa'. Name given to a group of similar plants |
| Grafted | Cause to grow together parts from different plants |
| Groundcover rose | A group of roses that lay down and can be used for groundcover |
| Hip | Fruit of the rose containing the seeds |
| Hybrid | An organism that is the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock; especially offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties or breeds or species |
| Hybrid Tea | A modern class of rose |
| Imbricated | especially of leaves or bracts; overlapping or layered as scales or shingles |
| Layering | A method of propagation. A limb placed under soil to produce new plant |
| Leaf | Organ that arises laterally from a shoot apex. Usually flat; may be simple or compound |
| Leaf scar | The mark left on the stem when the leaf detaches, above each of these is a bud |
| Term | Definition |
| Miniature rose | A class of roses originally decended from China roses |
| Mixed buds | Those that produce both leaves and flowers; usual type of bud on rose; present in leaf axils |
| Modern roses | Classes of roses that originated in or after 1867 |
| Obovate | Mainly of a leaf shape, egg-shaped with the narrower end at the base |
| Ovary | Swollen basal portion of the pistil containing the ovules or the seeds |
| Ovate | Of a leaf shape; egg-shaped with the broader end at the base |
| Ovule | Structure containing the embryo sac, nucellus, integuments and stalk. Following fertilization this develops into seeds. |
| Peduncle | Main cane of a spray or an individual flower |
| Pedicel | Stem of an individual flower in a spray |
| Perianth | Collective term for the calyx and corolla (sepals and petals) combined |
| Petal | One of the units of the corolla of the flower. Roses have from four to more than 100 petals, depending on the variety |
| Petiole | Stalk of the leaf |
| Petiolul | Subdivision of petiole connecting the lateral leaflets to the petiole |
| pH | Ideal pH for roses is 6.5 |
| Pinnate | Of a leaf shape, featherlike; having leaflets on each side of a common axis |
| Pistil | Central organ of flower made of one or more carpels; enclosing the ovule |
| Pith | Soft inner portion of stem |
| Pollen | Granules within pollen sacs which contain genetic information used for sexual reproduction |
| Polyantha | Class of roses derived by Jean Baptiste Guillot |
| Powdery Mildew | Any of various fungi of the genus Erysiphe producing powdery conidia on the rose surface |
| Prickle | Spine-like superficial outgrowth of the stem; roses technically have prickles, not thorns |
| Receptacle | Enlarged tip of a stem that bears the floral parts |
| Reflexed | Of leaves, bent downward and outward more than 90 degrees |
| Remontant | Roses that bloom more than once a year, repeat blooming |
| Roots | Underground portions of the rose used for support; absorption and delivery of water and nutrients |
| Rootstock | Cultivated roots implanted with a bud of another variety; sometimes called grafting |
| Term | Definition |
| Scion | A shoot or sprout of a plant cut for grafting |
| Semi-double | Refers to number of petals on bloom -- usually considered to be 12 to 25 in this category |
| Sepal | One unit of calyx; green coverings of a flower bud which open to reveal petals; roses normally have five sepals |
| Serrate | Referring to leaf edges, notched like a saw with teeth pointing toward the apex |
| Single | Refers to number of petals the bloom has, customarily refers to four to eight |
| Spray | Several flowers' buds arising from one peduncle; develop into many flowers on short pedicels |
| Stamen | Organ of flower producing pollen, made of anther and filament |
| Stigma | Top of pistil, the section that receives the pollen grains |
| Stipule |
Leaf appendage usually present in roses on the petiole where it meets the stem Portion of the pistil connecting ovary and stigma |
| Sucker | A shoot arising from a plant's roots |
| Terminal | Buds at the end of branches |
| Thorn | Branch of a plant that becomes woody, hard and pointed; not to be confused with prickles |
| Trunk | Main stem; the cane that eventually produces all the side branches or lateral canes |
| Umbels | Flat-topped or rounded inflorescence characteristic of the family Umbelliferae in which the individual flower stalks arise from about the same point; youngest flowers are at the center |
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