'A Rose is a Rose is a Rose'

A rose is a rose, is a rose…  We’ve all heard that before, but do we know where it is found, or why it is said?  How about, what does it mean?  It was first used in a poem by Gertrude Stein in the 1913 poem Sacred Emily and it appeared in the book Geography and Plays in 1922.  The full sentence was ‘Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” with the first “Rose” being a name.  Later, variations on the original sentence in other writings were more simply written as ‘a rose is a rose is a rose’ which is just a play on words meaning “things are what they are”.

As I started this writing the introductory phrase came to mind and I was baffled as to its meaning and felt I needed to clear that up first if nothing else within my own mind.  Getting that out of the way, I now assume the ‘rose’ is the most popular flower of all time and yet most people have the least knowledge about it other than the fact they are pretty, they sure smell sweet, and women like to receive them at various times of the year.  Roses mean ‘I Love You’ and we certainly need a lot more of that these days, don’t we?        

We find the arrangement of the petals a mystery to say the least and the fragrance unmatched and yet people with allergies or asthma sometimes become overwhelmed with the ‘musky’ fragrance of roses.  Personally, I sometimes sneeze when I’m around roses.  I assume the histamines in my body are released in response to theallergen exposure to the roses, but by taking Zyrtec or other allergy medication I seem to tolerate exposure a lot better.  Working outside with the roses doesn’t seem to bother me as long as I have taken my medication beforehand.  Some people’s skin is so sensitive they actually have been diagnosed with a condition known as Contact Dermatitis, and by coming in contact with the rose extract found in many fragrances their skin breaks out in a rash.

The rose bush is a perennial with over a hundred different species known at this time, and are not as plentiful in the United States as they are in Asia. Fossil records depicting rose petals show that roses have been around for thousands of years and we know rose bushes were grown during Roman times and China and France cultivated them prior to the 18^th century.  The beauty of the flowers alone is what has launched the rose bush to its fame all over the world.  Along with the many colors and fragrance the mere shape of the individual flowers make them somewhat unique the world over.

The characteristics of the old time roses have been maintained while current breeding practices have increase the tolerance level and hardiness considerably.  Experimentation and hybridization has produced more hardy varieties and sizes so that you’re certain to find a suitable bush to fit in that vacant spot of your own yard.  From large bushes to the miniature tea roses, outside or those you can grow in pots inside, and just about any color you can image.   You can find just about anything you might want in roses.  

But along with the beauty of the roses also comes the presence of the thorns. Wikipedia says that actually the ‘stickers’ are not thorns at all but ‘prickles’, an outgrowth of the epidermis or outer layer of tissue in the stem itself. It sounds like a ‘play on words’ to me, thorns, stickers or prickles. Evidently, the definition of a thorn is the modification of a stem(?) whatever that means. Maybe someone could just say, a thorn is a thorn is a thorn…

© 2011 SamSonS