Article (misc)  (2016)  
 

Rosa × damascena Mill. (derived from Rosa gallica L. and Rosa moschata Herm.), a member of the Rosa genus from Rosaceae family, has the common name of summer damask rose.
This species is a low, deciduous plant, with wide runners and is branched above ground. The length of the shoots of R. × damascena shrub is generally between 0.5 and 1.5 m and it is covered with tall, recurvate, or erect thorns and stem glands of various sizes. The leaves are usually divided into five, rarely seven, ovate to elliptic leaflets, and are long, glandular, grey–green above and are bluer below, leaflets grow together at the leaf stem and terminate in free tips (Figure 1).
Inflorescence is usually rather many-flowered, corymbiform, or corymbiform–paniculate. The flowers are usually solitary, more rarely in two and three, on 2–3 cm long thickly glandular pedicles, the calyx is round to pear-shaped and usually thickly covered with stalked gland and gland bristles. The velvety petals are pink to purple, 2–3 cm long and wide (Figure 2). The style and stigma form the ovary that is surrounded by carpels enclosed in the calyx, forming woolly capitula, the ripe and red-brown false fruit is oblong 1–1.5 cm long, and broadest in the upper part (Figure 3) (Brown, 2002; Fedorov et al., 1941; Khatamsaz, 1992).
Rosa × damascena is cultivated in Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, and Morocco but it has also been cultivated in other areas of the world. A map of the main areas in which R. × damascena is cultivated is shown in Figure 4.
There are many reports concerning the composition of the essential oil of R. × damascena. Quercetin, kaempferol, cyanidin, lycopene, rubixanthin, zeaxanthin, xanthophyll, and taraxanthin have been isolated from the hips of the rose plant. The yield of the volatile oil is very low and it is about one part of oil from 3000 parts of flowers. However, the main constituents of the essential oil obtained from the flowers of this plant are citronellol, nerol, geraniol, β-phenylethanol, eugenol, and methyl eugenol (Khare, 2007). Due to the low oil yield from R. × damascena and also high demand for this volatile oil, it is one of the most expensive volatile oils (Alsemaan et al., 2011; Baydar and Baydar, 2005; Boskabady et al., 2011; Shahbazi and Esmaeili, 2012).
The constituents of the oil extracted from R. × damascena vary depending on the growing area. Iran, India, Bulgaria, China, and Turkey are the main countries that cultivate this shrub and produce the essential oil of this plant. The main components of the oil obtained from this plant cultivated in different parts of these countries summarized in Table 1.
Although the main compounds of the oil extracted in these countries are citronellol, geraniol, and nonadecane, there are also other compounds like docosane (up to 19%), disiloxane (up to 19%), and heneicosane (up to 18%) reported for Iranian oil. In addition, β-phenyl ethanol (50–86%) was reported for Turkish absolute and geranyl acetate plus citronellol (up to 25%) and heneicosane (up to 11%) was reported for “York and Lancaster” attar (Tucker and DeBaggio, 2009).

Article (magazine)  (Nov 2015)  Page(s) 1621-1622.  
 
Within the Synstylae-Chinenses clade, R. x damascena (sample no. 47) from R. sect. Gallicanae was merged with R. sects. Synstylae and Chinenses....R. x damascena is thought to be a hybrid with three parents of wild species, and R. moschata Herrm. of R. sect. Synstylae is considered the female parent (Iwata et al., 2000; Millan et al., 1996). This viewpoint is supported by Takeuchi et al. (2000) whose study showed that R. odorata var. gigantea, R. moschata, and R. x damascena were grouped into one clade apart from R. sect. Gallicanae.

[Table 1 shows a probability of 0.87  and a bootstrap value of 53 between Rosa weisiensis and Rosa x damascena]

Article (magazine)  (2015)  Page(s) 40.  
 
The following diagrammatic map illustrates the dispariity in the geographical distribution between Rosa fedtschenkoana, Rosa moschata, and Rosa gallica. At the risk of being repetitive it must be emphasised that roses do not naturally transmigrate lattitudinally because their polarity is aligned longitudinally (Fig. 5).
The question arises, how, when and where did Rosa fedtschenkoana from China get to breed with Rosa moschata x Rosa gallica from Europe?

Article (magazine)  (3 Nov 2012)  Page(s) 5495.  
 
The chemical compositions of essential oil from nine distinct genotypes of Iranian Rosa damascena  (Fars1, Fars2, Tehran, Mazandaran, Gilan, East Azar, Ardabi, Kermanshah and Qom) were determinedfollowing gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis.The main essential oil components identified in the different genotypes were citronellol, geraniol, neral,linalool and nonadecane. The relative percentage of citronellol was highest in Fars1 (42.2%) and Gilan(40.3%) genotypes and lowest in the Qom (2.2%) and East Azar (0.6%) genotypes, while in Mazandaran,Ardabil and Kermanshah genotypes citronellol was not detected. The highest content of geraniol wasdetected in the essential oil of the Kermanshah genotype (37.5%); however, in the Fars1, Fars2, Tehran,Gilan, East Azar, Kermanshah and Qom genotypes this component was not detected. Linalool wasdetected in the essential oil of all genotypes, and the highest amount of this component was in Fars2(39.2%). Hydrocarbons had the highest contribution to the essential oil of the East Azar genotype. The major hydrocarbons identified in all genotypes were nonadecane (10.7 to 51.2%), heneicosane (3.7 to18%), eicosane (0.8 to 6.2%) and tricosane (0.5 to 2.4%)

Article (magazine)  (2012)  Page(s) 119.  Includes photo(s).
 
Of the many significant eastern manuscripts in the collection of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, the Dilsuznama, MS. Ouseley 133, dated 860 (1455–56), is one of the earliest known literary works of Ottoman production....
To the right of the image, a pair of human lovers, she named Rose and he, Nightingale, repeat the exchange seated in their pavilion, tiled in the manner of the garden pavilions of the newly built palace at Edirne, and overlooking the rose bushes that dominate the painting in terms of scale. The flower heads and the blossoms are very carefully drawn and coloured in exact rendition of the variety of damask roses planted by Mehmet II in the palace grounds.
Gul had a handkerchief with gold brocade
She gave it to Nightingale in the hour when she was leaving.
She said: keep this in memory of me,
Oh my beloved, my perfume is in this handkerchief so never lose it.
....Floral and springtime themes, modelled on those of the classical world, had been popular with Byzantine writers. The work of the 4th-century pagan orator Libanius incorporated motifs that were carried over into Christian writing and art, and easily absorbed into the literary and artistic production of border areas of the Persianate world. ‘Delight in the songs of the birds and scents of the flowers’, he wrote, ‘the swallow sings in the spring, as does the nightingale . . . The meadows are sweet . . . with roses, with violets, with lilies ... Just as the sultan was referred to or addressed in poetry as a flower or a slender cypress tree, and the Prophet alluded to as a rose, Byzantine precedents described the Virgin Mary as ‘a sweet smelling meadow . . . a flower .. . the fount of a perennial stream’.25 The sermons of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who belonged to the monastic Cistercian order in north-eastern France in the mid-12th century, were instrumental in formalising the rose as a symbol of Mary. The Marian cult he inspired proliferated throughout Europe, extending the reach of devotion to Mary and her association with imagery of the rose that had already been established in Byzantine Constantinople.....
A miniature of the ‘Lover with Reason’ from a mid-15th century Roman de la Rose from the Bodleian Library collection depicts the same variety of many-petalled, flat pink damask roses seen in the Oxford Dilsuznama

Newsletter  (Feb 2010)  Page(s) 39.  
 
Major Chemical Compounds (%) responsible for fragrance in Selected Cultivars....
'Summer Damask'   (Z)-3-Hexenyl acetate 29.7

Website/Catalog  (2009)  
 
Rosa damascena Mill.

Habitat : Cultivated chiefly in Aligarh, Ghazipur and Kannauj, grown in gardens throughout India.

Ayurvedic : Taruni. (Flowers—red, pink or white.)
Unani : Gul-e-Surkh, Vard, Varde-Ahmar. Stamens—Zard-e-Vard. Fruit—Dalik, Samar-ul-Vard, Smar-e-Gul.
Siddha/Tamil : Irosa.
Folk : Fasali Gulaab.

Action : Flower buds—astringent, expectorant, laxative; used as a cardiac tonic and aperient. Stamens and fruits —astringent. Petals—Gulkand (a confection in sugar)—laxative, anti-inflammatory (used in sore throat and tonsilitis. Rose water—cooling, refrigerant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory (used as a remedy for skin irritation, also for sore eyes).

All parts of the rose plant yielded quercetin, kaempferol and cyanidin. Lycopene, rubixanthin, zeaxanthin, xanthophyll and taraxanthin have been isolated from the hips. The flowers contain an essential oil with citronellol, nerol, geraniol, beta-phenylethanol and its glucoside, eugenol and methyl eugenol; other constituents include organic acids, chlorogenic acid, tannin, cyanin, cyanidin and its 3,5-diglucoside, quercitrin, carotene and sugars. Pollen from flowers contain carotene (0.76mg/100 g), sugars (1.0%) and chlorogenic acid (1.5%). Their proline content is found unusually high. The red colouring matter consists of cyanin (9–10% on dry weight basis); a yellow glucoside of quercetin and quercitrin is also present. Flowers, usually, yield 0.04% oil or otto of rose.

Article (magazine)  (2007)  Page(s) 317.  
 
...more than 95 macro- and micro-components were found in the essential oil of Rosa damascene from the Kashan regions......Eighteen compounds were identifed, representing more than 95% of the total oil (Table 1).... The constituent of the oil was beta-citronellol (15-47.5%), non-adecan (24-40.5%), geraniol (0-18%) and henicosane (7-14.5%).

Article (magazine)  (2007)  
 
...Cluster analysis resulted in grouping of the 40 accessions ]of Rosa damascena] into nine distinct genotypes..... The main group consisted of 27 landraces that showed the same microsatellite profile. This group included all accessions from the main rose oil production sites of Damask rose in Iran [Isfahan]. The pattern of this group was identical to that of an accession from Bulgarian production areas. Rusanov et al. showed that all Bulgarian Damask roses are this genotype...
The accessions from Fars province formed two distinct clusters in the dendrogram. They are from an environmentally
very distinct region, far to the South of Iran. One of these samples was hexaploid, while all other samples were tetraploid, as expected for R. damascena.....Except one plant, all genotypes identified here were tetraploid, consistent with the general literature. One plant was hexaploid. At this moment, we do not know whether this is the first of more hexaploid R. damascena plants. It may be misclassified, but cuttings from all plants have been evaluated by several experienced taxonomists after cultivation for 2–3 years in a common garden.

Article (misc)  (2007)  Page(s) 15.  
 
A species closely allied to the centifolia, the Damask rose (Rosa damascena), which is known in Persian as the Muhammadan rose (gul-i Muḥammadĩ), represented the chief source of rose water (gulāb) and rose oil ('ațr > Eng. attar) in Iran. The highly fragrant, rose-pink species apparently obtained its name from the Islamic legendary belief that the rose was created from the drops of perspiration that fell from the forehead of the orophet Muhammad during his miraculous nocturnal ascent (mi`rāj) through the seven heavens to the Throne of God. This legend represented an imaginative extrapolation from the traditional Islamic accounts that held that the Prophet exhibited a characteristic feature of sanctity in that his body exuded a fragrant odor. The association of the rose with Islam's Prophet was expressed in many spiritually and artistically creative ways, one of which was the depiction of the Muhammadan rose with the ninety-nine epithets of Muhammad inscribed on its petals.
According to medieval sources, the finest quality rose water in the Near East was produced in the Region of Shiraz in the southern Iranian province of Fars, whence it was exported to all parts of the world, including Egypt, India, and China, and referred to simply as the "Persian rose" (gul-i fārsī). In the high caliphal period (circa ninth century), the province of Fars was known to have sent thirty thousand flasks of rose water and one thousand measures of rose honey to the 'Abbasid treasury in Baghdad as part of its annual Tribute.