Download ROSE Botanical Name: Rosa damascena, Rosa centifolia, Rosa

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ROSE
Botanical Name: Rosa damascena, Rosa centifolia, Rosa gallica
Common Name: Rose, damask rose (R. damascena), cabbage rose (R. centifolia), French
rose (R. gallica)
“The Rose distills a healing balm,
The beating pulse of pain to calm.”
(Wilder, 1974)
A rose is so beautiful in its simplicity. Yet the geometric configuration of its petals, the
chemicals that make up its fragrance, and the variation in color from bush to bush are
actually complex. The rose is cultivated throughout the world as a garden ornamental for
its rare beauty. It is an erect shrub 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) in height. Its branches have
numerous sharp prickles. The shiny green leaves are oblong or oval. The blossoms are
large, showy, colorful, and usually fragrant with many overlapping petals. Wild roses
have only five petals that are usually pale red or pink. If the rose blossoms are to be used
for medicinal purposes, they should be harvested before they are fully open and air-dried.
In the autumn, the seed-pod called the rosehip ripens, turns red, and can be harvested.
Roses today are highly cultivated for their visual beauty and not necessarily for their
scent.
Culinary Use
Rose petals are edible and a traditional ingredient in the foods in the Middle East,
especially in desserts. In addition to sprinkling rose water on desserts, it is sprinkled on
guests as a sign of welcome before the meal. Rose water is a popular flavoring for drinks,
rice pudding, and yogurt desserts. Rose petal jam and cordial are still popular in Europe.
Rose hips are a rich source of vitamin C and can be made into a conserve or jam. One
drop of rose oil is wonderful in chocolate milk, ice cream, pudding, and whipped cream.
Rose petals can be added to salads. They can also be crystallized ─painted with an egg
white and vodka preservative mixture and sprinkled with sugar. The petals are then eaten
as a candy or used to decorate desserts.
Recipe for Rose Butter:
Fragrant petals are placed into the bottom of a covered dish. Make sure that the petals
you choose are pesticide free. Butter that was wrapped in wax paper is placed on top of
the petals. More petals are then added to completely cover the butter. The lid is put on the
dish, and then the butter is allowed to sit overnight. The next day, the butter should have
absorbed the fragrance of the roses. It can be spread on bread with a few rose petals
(Grieve, 1971).
Medicinal Use
Many traditions are associated with the rose. Nurses have used rose for centuries
in the care and comfort of patients. The American Shaker nurses grew, harvested, and
distilled their own rose water for use in their infirmaries. They typically bathed the head
of a patient suffering migraine or common headache in rose water. The French Daughters
of Charity were well known for their herbal remedies. They made rose as well as cherry
and peach syrups as carriers for more bitter tasting herbal remedies.
It was once a British custom to suspend a rose over the dinner table as a sign that
all confidences were to be held sacred. In later years, the plaster ornament in the center of
a ceiling was known as “the rose.” Early English physicians used rose petals for their
medicinal qualities. The blossoms were thought to have different actions according to
their color, with the white and red roses being the ones that were mainly used. Rose is
considered tonic, slightly laxative, and astringent. Rose decoction (water extract)
continues to be used today to relieve headache and pain in the eyes, ears, throat, and
gums. A poultice is made of the blossoms and applied to the area of the heart to soothe
inflammation in the chest. Rose petals are used in various conditions to cool the heat of
inflammation, both internally and externally. Roses are used for excess menstrual
bleeding, digestive problems, gonorrhea, and for liver symptoms. Delicious medicinal
preparations can be made from rose petals, including syrup of roses, honey of roses,
sugar of roses, rose water, and vinegar of roses. According to Nicholas Culpeper’s
famous herbal, these have been used for conditions such as fevers, headache, jaundice,
joint pain, fainting, weakness, “trembling of the heart,” poor digestion, and infection.
Roses are tonic and astringent. They stop bleeding and excessive mucous discharge and
ease the discomfort related to bowel disorders and eye complaints.
The fruit of the wild rose, called the “rosehip,” can be picked when ripe
and then dried and powdered. It has been used for leukorrhea, to increase urinary output,
and ease diarrhea. Rose hips are used in treating symptoms related to stress, diarrhea,
thirst, infection, and gastritis. Rose hips contain four times more vitamin C than oranges.
However, it is best to use rose hips that are either very fresh or whole because powdered
rose hip loses its vitamin C content within six months. Rose hips are also a good source
of bioflavonoids. Vitamin C and bioflavonoids have the ability to strengthen capillaries
and connective tissue. They are very nourishing to the skin when taken internally. Rose
hips are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for conditions relating to urinary
incontinence, involuntary loss of semen, and vaginal discharge. It is used as an astringent
for prolapsed rectum and uterus and excessive uterine bleeding.
Rose oil is not red, but an orange-green. It takes about 700 kg of roses to produce
1 kg of rose absolute, a compound that is extracted through the use of petrochemicals.
Absolutes are not the same as essential oils. Essential oils can be water or steam-distilled.
Seven hundred kilograms of roses also produces a quantity of essential oil that is about
one-sixth the amount of absolute that can be produced.
Some women dilute rose essential oil in a spray that can be applied to the face
during menopausal hot flushes. The essential oil also has been used to relieve nausea,
premenstrual depression, and as a sedative for insomnia. In aromatherapy, rose essential
oil is used as a general tonic, especially for the heart. It is used to soothe the nerves and
as an aphrodisiac. It is thought to be especially useful for women who lack confidence in
their own sexuality. The scent of roses can increase concentration and act as a sedative
and antidepressant. It is used for emotional shock, bereavement, and grief. Some use it to
treat depression, to regulate the appetite, and for obesity. Rose essential oil is reported to
have analgesic and relaxing effects when applied topically. Rose oil can reduce high
blood pressure and decrease cholesterol and help in the treatment of heart arrhythmia. It
also has been used in the treatment of gallstones. Rose has been discovered to have
antispasmodic properties and can protect against gastrointestinal ulcers.
Some experts think rose water's medicinal value is almost equal to rose oil. It can
be used in the bath to soothe the skin. It contains acids that restore proper pH and are
beneficial when applied to the skin. It is believed that these acids are responsible for its
ability to soften, hydrate, and act as an anti-inflammatory on the skin. Rose water is
especially good for soothing dry, delicate, and mature complexions.
Rose ointment is reported in one study to have been helpful in the relief of symptoms in
cancer patients with radiation burns and radiodermatitis and was effective in 154 cases
for which antibiotics were ineffective in treating skin ulcers. Acid constituents in rose
water, such as carboxylic acid, produce softening, hydrating, and anti-inflammatory
effects on the skin.
The spasmolytic activity of rose, found to prevent damage to the stomach mucosa
of rats, is thought to be due to its ability to block M-cholinoreactive biochemical systems
in the smooth muscle and a direct myotropic action (Maleev et al., 1972). A methanol
extract of dried rose petals demonstrated moderate anti-HIV activity in vitro (Mahmood
et al., 1996).
Rose is often used as medicinal wine and externally as a paste. The Paipai use
roses to treat fever, menstrual problems, eye infections, and stomachache. Rose is used as
a laxative and as a birth aid. North American Indian tribes use a decoction of the roots of
the rose plant as a cough remedy and to treat eye problems. An infusion of the bark and
leaves is used as eye drops for blindness. An infusion of the twig bark is taken in cases of
difficult birth and women in labor chew the rose hips to hasten the delivery. Rose petals
and leaves can be used as an astringent tea for toning the uterus and healing the perineum
after the birth. A poultice of the chewed leaves is applied to bee stings. The rose leaves
are placed into moccasins for athlete's foot. Tribes in Alaska cook the rose hips to extract
the juice as a source of vitamin C and then use the juice to make jellies, jam, and
marmalades. Mexican Americans recommended the application of rose oil to mothers
whose breasts are inflamed. A tea made of rose petals is given to infants for fever. Rose
also is used as a gentle laxative and to ease children's coughs. Dry rose petals are
powdered and applied to diaper rash, and rose petal tea is given to the infant orally also to
help cure diaper rash. In addition, it is given for infant colic.
In the southwestern United States, a wild rose called “rosa de Castilla” is used to
ease the discomfort related to kidney stones and sore throat and as an eyewash. Dry rose
petals, ground and mixed with lard, are applied to cold sores. Rose water from the
blossoms of R. centifolia is listed in the Pharmacopoeia of India as an official medicine.
The rose is used as a mild laxative and carminative. R. damascena also is used for the
distillation of rose water and rose oil. The petals are used to make a syrup that is used as a
laxative and for sore throat and enlarged tonsils, uterine hemorrhage, and cold sores. It is
given to those who need to gain weight. R. gallica flowers are officially allowed in
Germany for the treatment of symptoms of mild inflammation of the oropharyngeal
mucosa. Rose has been used traditionally for women's discomforts and to strengthen the
heart and beautify the skin. Anthroposophical physicians and nurses apply rose oil to the
skin of newborn babies to help them adjust to extrauterine life.
Of all the healing benefits of rose perhaps the most notable is its ability to raise the
spirits. The beauty of the rose has inspired poetry, art, dance, literature and architecture.
The healing power of the rose’s beauty is recognized widely as some of the finest
“medicine” on the planet!