The plant commonly called " rose of Jericho" is in no wa)' referred to iu the above-quoted passages. Dr. Lindley, in the Gardener's Chronicle, ii, 362, has thus described it : " The A nastalica Hierochuntina, or rose of Jericho of the old herbalists, is not a rose at all, nor has it the smallest resemblance to a rose; nor is it, as it is often described to be, alive as sold in the shops. It is gathered by the poor Christians of Palestine and sold to pilgrims as a charm. It is a little gray-leaved annual, very common in Palestine, and of which hmidreds may be gathered in full flower in June by the sides of the road over the Isthmus of Suez (see Arvieux, Neaehr. ii, 1.50; Seetzen,inZ«cA. xvii, 146; Forskal, F/orfl, p. 117). It produces a number of short, stiff, zigzag branches, which spread pretty equally from the top of the root, and, when green and growing, lie almost flat upon the ground, having the flowers and fruit upon their upper side. It is, in fact, a cruciferous plant, nearly related to the common purple sea-rocket, which grows on the coast of England, and has a somewhat similar habit. When the seed-vessels of this plant are ripe, the branches die, and, drying up, curve inwards, so as to form a kind of ball,wliich then separates from the roots, and is blown about on the sands of the desert. In the cavit}' tlius formed Ijy the branches, the seed-vessels are carefully guarded from being so disturbed as to lose their con- tents. In that condition the winds carry the anastatica from place to place, till at last rain falls, or it reaches a pool of water. The drj^ hard l)ranclies immediately ab- sorb the fluid, become softened, relax, and expand again into the position they occupied when alive ; at the same time, the seed-vessels open and the seeds fall out, germi- nate if favored, and become new plants. This is due,
Badge of the Tudors
then, to the hygroscopic property of vegetable texture." So D'Arvieux, who calls the anastatica a "natural hj''- grometer" (see the fables told of it in Zedler, Unirersal- Lex. xxxii, 867 sq. ; Helmuth, Naturgesch. viii, 288 sq.). See Rose of Jekicho.
ROSE, Akciiitectural. A kind of rose was some- times used as an ornament on the face of the abacus on Corinthian capitals. It also occurs in orna- mental mouldings during the Nor- man style ; but the full rose, as in the accompanying illustration, was a badge of the Tudors, and during their reigns it is often found carved on buildings in con- junction with the portcullis. — Parker, Gloss, of Architect, s. v. ROSE, The Golden (Rosa aurea), a rose made of gold and consecrated by the pope, wliich is presented to such princes as have rendered special service to the Church, or as may be expected to promote its interests, though it is sometimes given also to cities and church- es. The essential parts of the rose are gold, incense, and balsam, signifying the threefold substance of Christ — Deity, body, and soul ; and its color denotes purity, its scent attractiveness, its taste the satisfying of de- sire. It is not known when the ceremony of consecrat- ing the rose was introduced, though the time is com- monly placed in the 11th century and in the pontificate of Leo IX, and it has becoine increasingly impressive with the progress of time. The day is always the fourth Sunday in Lent, which is consequenth' known also as " Rose-Sunday" {Dominica de Rosa). The pope, clothed whollj' in white, intones before the altar the Adjiitorium nostrian and offers a prayer of consecration, after which he dips the rose in balsam and sprinkles it with balsam-dust, incense, and holy-water. It is then placed on the altar, mass is said, and the benediction concludes the solemnity. When tlie rose is not con- ferred by the hand of the pope, it is always transmitted by special messenger, and accompanied with a letter from the pope. Its use as a symbol of jo3'ous events has been continued in tlie Romish Church down to the present time. See Herzog, Real- Encyklop. s. v. ; Wet- zer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. s. v.
ROSE OF Jericho, a plant of the natural order Cru- cifera, which grows in the sandy deserts of Arabia, on rubbish, the roofs of houses, and other such situations, in Syria and other parts of the East. It is a small, bushy, herbaceous plant, seldom more than six inches high, with small white flowers. After it has flowered, the leaves fall off, and the branches become incurved towards the centre, so that the plant assumes an almost globular form, and in this state it is often blown about by the wind in the desert. When it happens to be blown into water the branches expand again, the pods open and let out the seeds (see illustrations on the fol- lowing page). Numerous superstitions are connected with this plant, which is called Rosa Maria, or the Rose of the Virgin. — Chambers's Encyclop. s. v. See Rose.
Rose, Alexander, a Scottish prelate, was born in the north of Scotland, was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, and afterwards studied theology at Glasgow. His first preferment was Perth, which he left to become professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow. In 1684 he was nominated to the principality of St. Mar3''s College, University of St. Andrew's, and in 1687 he was made bishop of Edinburgh. He refused to join the standard of William, and during the Revolution was de- prived of his cathedral, despoiled of his revenues, and stripped of his civil dignities. He died in March, 1720, and was buried in the church of Restalrig, near Edin- burgh. See Hook, Eccles. Biog. s. v.