Roses

Plant
Roses
Location	Throughout Middle-earth
Family	Rosaceae
Appearance	Flowering plants with large blossoms and prickly stems

Roses are flowering plants with large, showy blossoms and (often) prickly stems that were found in many places throughout Middle-earth.

In Gondolin there was a roadway called the Alley of Roses, one of the most beautiful places in the city.

In the Shire it was common to bestow flower names upon girls and many maidens bore the name "Rose" – Rosa Baggins, Rose (the daughter of Holman the greenhanded), Rose Cotton, Rose Gardner, and Primrose Gardner. Given the stay-at-home nature of Hobbits their familiarity with roses certainly indicates the cultivation of these flowers in their homeland.

Roses could be found far to the south of the Shire. In Ithilien, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee encountered Eglantine, a type of rose (one Hobbit, Eglantine Banks, was named after this flower, indicating that this variety of rose also grew in the Shire). When Aragorn steeped athelas in hot water in the Houses of Healing, Ioreth claimed that the fragrance reminded her of the roses in Imloth Melui, a valley in Gondor.

Other names

The Sindarin name for a rose is meril.

Portrayal in adaptations

1997: Middle-earth Role Playing—Hands of the Healer

Two specific types of roses are described in the book:

Bramblerose (S. Aegmeril, Q. Aicamerillë) was a rose bush with large pink flowers that grew along rivers in temperate regions. It formed thick brambles, and had delicious large purple fruits with orange interiors with mild healing properties.

Foxrose (S. Rosmeril, Q. Russamerillë), also known as Redthorn, was a rose with dusky red flowers and reddish-green leaves that grew in temperate wetlands. The foxrose symbolized love, and its petals had healing properties.

External links

• Roses at Wikipedia