And then I recalled that when they are in bud, the flowers are red. Many of today’s red rose cultivars are derived from Chinese rose species,but these original introductions were in 1798 at the earliest, and Burns’ 1794 song predates that.Which native rose would an 18th-century west coast ploughman see all around him? Rosa canina, the dog rose, is the obvious answer. A fascinating question which set off some extremely interesting research. “Which species of rose was Burns writing about in the poem?” he asked me. When I was Librarian of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, I had a letter from a designer tasked with producing a set of commemorative Burns stamps. This poem, especially in its song form, is very well known, but like some other good songs, there are underlying subtleties which can be missed in the malty spicy fumes of a Burns Supper. Introduced by a variety of writers, artists and other guests, the Scottish Poetry Library’s classic poem selections are a reminder of wonderful poems to rediscover.
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