‘List and learn, ye dainty roses,/Roses white and roses red,/Why we bind you into posies/Ere your morning bloom has fled,’ the opening lines for The Gondoliers proclaimed.
Lyricist W.S. Gilbert, like his composer Arthur Sullivan would have horrified modern mores. Both men worked until two or three in the morning, assisted by a healthy shot or three and a dozen-and-a-half cigars a day.
According to some, roses might have been a better choice if health indeed was the concern of WSG.
Aesthetically pleasing both by sight and scent, roses have an equally long history of medicinal use.
Rosa chinensis, the Chinese rose, has long been used in the traditional medicine of that civilization, as has the misnamed Cherokee rose,
R. laevigata, which despite its common name is native to China. Thanks to its high tannin content, it has found use in treating diarrhea amongst other afflictions.
In Western civilizations, the apothecary rose,
Rosa gallica officinalis was appreciated by herbalists perhaps as far back as medieval times.
The rosehips or fruits of
Rosa canina, the dog rose, are 20 times richer in vitamin C than oranges, noted
Richters Herb Catalogue in Canada, which recommend it in preserves, sauces and tea. Native to Europe, it has become naturalized in North America.
More than a dozen species of roses are claimed as native to the British Isles, including the R. canina, as well as the field rose, R. arvensis, the eglantine or sweetbriar,
R. rubiginosa and the downy rose,
R. tomentosa. Like Chinese physicians, the 16th-century English herbalist William Cole agreed roses were useful to ‘gently bind the belly.’ Famed physician to the Tudors Andrew Borde also included roses in his medications for what may have been earache and a century later, Nicholas Culpepper recommended similar preparations as a de-wormer. A conserve of rose hips was prescribed by a Dr. Losch in the 19th-century under the pseudo-scientific name of
conserve de Cynorrhodens, to treat – surprise – diarrhea,
Today, many a medical researcher, particularly in North America, has regarded such apothecary cures with some disdain. Not so in Europe where, as in China, a flourishing belief in herbals continues unabated. There are some scientific reasons for such beliefs as demonstrated by a paper published last month in the
Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. A study by researchers in Ljubliana, Slovenia identified specific phenolic compounds found in the petals of four indigenous rose species–
Rosa canina, R. glauca, R. rubiginosa, R. sempervirens – traditionally used for medicinal purposes.
In the study, the leaves of
Rosa canina stood out for their high and varied phenolic content. “The traditional practice of using
Rosa canina for medicinal purposes appears scientifically justified because (the species) contains significantly more phenolic antioxidants compared with other naturally occurring rose species of the region,” said Vlasta Cunja, corresponding author of the study.
Despite this ringing scientific endorsement of the healthy benefits of rose extracts, it is doubtful if it would have persuaded William Shank Gilbert to forego his late-night inspirational alcoholic beverage. He was, after all never fearful of expressing his views: “I cannot believe that Commandments framed for the exceptional conditions of a tribe of semi-barbarians, wandering for forty years in a desert, were intended to apply to all Englishmen of the 19th century, except publicans.” As to his health, he died at the ripe old age 75, not of lung or liver cancer, but cardiac arrest suffered while rescuing a girl from drowning.
