The aroma that enchanted the world

The fragrance became one of the main reasons why roses became so popular. It is assumed that Rosa gallica and other ancient roses were the first to capture the hearts of people with their amazingly strong and delicious aroma. Many people including young children instinctively react to a rose by dipping their noses into it to inhale its scent. There are six main fragrance groups each derived from a different type of rose. Apart from tropical epiphytic orchids no other plant has such a wide range of completely different types of aromas.

 We are used to expecting diversity from roses repeated flowering variety of colors and shapes different forms of the bush and various growth characteristics that make them suitable for solving many problems in landscape design. However the world of rose fragrances is equally diverse. Within the aroma of roses one can discover scents resembling various flowers and herbs such as violets carnations peonies lilac or thyme. Not only do they have the rich intoxicating scent of Old Roses such as Centifolia and Damask roses but this fragrance has been passed down through the centuries to many modern roses. The scent of myrrh is quite rare particularly prevalent among the modern English Roses of David Austin. The aroma can range from fruity such as the smell of an apple raspberry or black currant or even completely exotic to entirely exotic such as the fragrance of mango or lychee. The majority of roses are fragrant though in some the scent is light and barely noticeable as is often found in modern cutting varieties.
As a medicinal plant the rose has a rich history. Even in ancient Rome the rejuvenating power of rose petals was recognized and people knew how to transfer the aroma of roses to olive oil and create rose water. However it was only around the middle of the XVII century that humans managed to extract pure essential oil from roses. This essential oil was derived from one of the oldest and most historic roses Rosa gallica var officinalis known as the Apothecarys Rose or Red Damask. Widely cultivated in the Middle Ages for its aroma and medicinal properties it served as the primary source of rose essential oil and medicinal substances in Europe until the introduction of rose species from the Far East. The peculiarity of certain roses including the Apothecary rose is that the aroma of