Rosa Hibernica, the Irish Rose

There are countless different types of roses, so numerous that it takes an expert to know them all, if indeed anyone, even among  experts has the knowledge of all types. So I am beginning this article with an account of how plants are classified, for understanding the botanical nomenclature will assist in understanding the plant's name. For the sake of brevity I will focus on the smaller categories. 

While plants all have common names, all of them have scientific titles, and this rose is Rosa x hiberica. This locates it in the genus Rosa, a member of the enormous plant family known as the Rosaceae, which contains a huge proliferation of species and plenty of genera. The genus Rosa, like other genera [plural of genus] consists of a large range of closely related species. Species within a genus are closely related enough to interbreed, and often, though not always the hybrids are fertile. Note that Rosa hibernica capitalises the genus' name, but uses lower case for the species' name. This is normal botanical nomenclature. However, the insertion of an x between the two names indicates that it is a hybrid between two species within a genus; an x before the genus' name indicates an intergeneric hybrid, i.e. between species of different genera. These are usually infertile. If you see var followed by a name, e.g ....hibernica var. glabra, this indicates a distinction of a type within a species. A species name followed by a non-latin name in speech marks denotes a cultivar, which is a variety created and propagated by humans by vegetative propagation rather than by seed. I have not heard of any cultivars of the Irish Rose.

Hybridisation is common among wild plants, as plant seeds are no respecters of biological categories. Rosa hibernica is a cross between Rosa pimpinellifolia, the Burnet Rose, and Rosa canina, the dog rose. There may also be genes from native Irish wild roses that have over millennia contributed their share to hibernica's genetics. Sexual reproduction has the problem that desired varieties or species cannot breed true, as both parents contribute to the plant's genetics. This means that if you want to breed a true copy of the desired variety you must use asexual reproduction, known as vegetative propagation. There are several ways of doing this, but they vary from plant to plant.  Roses are propagated by cuttings, so a cutting of Rosa hibernica would have been taken [probably several of them] and grown on in favourable conditions.

Rosa hibernica belongs to the group known as shrub roses, which means that they are in effect small trees. It can reach nine feet tall. The claim that Rosa hibernica only grows in Ireland is false. The same hybridisation has occurred independently in other parts of the British Isles, though rarely. The variety glabra was once thought to belong to hibernica, but has now been shown by genetic analysis to be a different hybridisation. Modern genetics has provided a great tool for analysing lines of descent.

Templeton's Rose is pink in colour and its flowers are followed in winter time by bright red hips. specimens are available for purchase from a small selection of plant nurseries.

Let's imagine the day of the Rose's discovery. It is 1802 and thirty six year old John Templeton, a scion of one of Belfast's prosperous Presbyterian merchant families and beneficiary of a marriage into another such family, has decided to take a walk by the shores of Belfast Lough, the sea lough on  which Belfast stands. He is a typical scholarly intellectual of his period, a man of an age before the proliferation of scientific knowledge made specialisation a necessity. He has delved into the nascent sciences of chemistry and physics, though he has made no discoveries in those  areas, but his love is biology, though in the biological field he loves botany the best. Like other amateur scientists of his age he is open to new discoveries, and in the early years of a science they are there for the making.

The day is pleasant, and rural walks along the loughside road are a desirable way to spend one's time. Perhaps he wanders down a lane on whose route he has not previously walked. His eyes are ever alert for interesting flora, but as with  all such amblings most of the flora is already known and common. He did not set out with the intention or the expectation of a discovery, but his eye catches a large rose. Suddenly he realizes that this is something which he does not recognize. Yes, he can see that it is a rose, but not one with which he is familiar. So he takes a look, it is somewhat different from other roses of his acquaintance. The thought dawns on him along with a frisson of excitement. He has made a discovery. To be sure he takes a flower home with him and pores through reference books. Yes, it is a new variety! Next day he returns with a servant and takes some cuttings. The propagation process then begins and is ultimately successful.

As a successful amateur scientist he became a leading figure in Belfast's intellectual life and was a keen activist in progressive politics, supporting the cause of the non-sectarian United Irishmen. He corresponded with other great names in botany, such as Joseph Banks, the botanist who accompanied Captain Cook and who was instrumental in the establishment of Kew Gardens. Templeton also worked on sea shells, an area of his work that is relatively unknown, but he was also involved in a magnum opus which was to collect illustrations for a pictorial work on Irish plants. This, along with working on the establishment of Belfast's botanic garden, took up much of his  time. Though the book was never published the illustrations remain in the possession of the botanic garden. He is acclaimed by many as Ireland's greatest naturalist.

Sadly Templeton was a man of less than robust constitution, and he suffered fragile health for the last ten years of his life. He died in 1825,aged fifty nine. 

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