Handy 'flower' site Susan - had a problem with the other link - kept getting a woman's voice advertising "brawband" - presumably the Scots equivalent of Broadband - what is happening to the English language?
Will persevere.
It takes a bit of space, but here is the 'Funk and Wagnall Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend' entry for 'Rose' - might be something for somebody.
Jim Carroll   

ROSE
The national flower of England, once divided between the followers of the white rose of the House of York and the red rose of Lancaster in the War of the Roses. In the United States it is the state flower of New York, Iowa, and North Dakota. Originally from Persia, the rose is said to have been brought to the West by Alexander. To the Arabs the rose was a masculiine flower. It was anciently a symbol of joy, later of secrecy
and silence, but is now usually associated with love.
The rose, as one of the most beautiful of flowers, has always been associated in one way or another with Venus. Various legends ascribe its origin to her tears or as a gift of the gods to celebrate her rising from the sea. Some say it became red because Venus (Aphrodite) pricked her feet on the thorns as she sought her slain lover, Adonis. Other legends link it with her son, Cupid, e.g. the roses became red when he mischievously emptied a cup of wine on them, or once, when he stopped smell a rose, he was stung by a bee which had been admiring the same rose. Cupid was so angry that he
shot an arrow into the bush; this accounts for the thorns.
Another tale says that Bacchus was chasing a nymph when he was stopped by a thorn hedge which he commanded to become a hedge of roses; the nymph doubled back, and when he saw that the rose hedge would not stop her, he commanded it to be thorn again. The magic was not wholly effective and so now they grow together.
In Algonquian Indian etiological story the thorns were added by Gluskabe to prevent the animals from eating the flowers.
When Eve kissed a white rose in the Garden of Eden, it blushed with pleasure and has been pink ever since.
The 4th century Bishop Basil said the rose was thornless until the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Many of the attributes of the rose were inherited by the Virgin Mary. In common with many other thorny plants it is said to have formed the "Crown of Thorns," the tree on which Judas hanged himself, and Christ's blood is said to have turned the rose red at the time of the Crucifixion.
Throughout the Teutonic area the rose belongs to the dwarfs or fairies and is under their protection. In many places it is customary to ask permission of their king before picking lest one lose a hand or foot. The Arabs say that the white rose sprang from the sweat of Mohammed on his journey from heaven. A Rumanian story tells of a princess who was bathing in a secluded pool. She was so beautiful that the sun passing overhead was stopped in his tracks. He stopped so long that the moon complained to the gods, who turned the princess into a white rose. Next day when the sun passed, the princess was embarrassed and she blushed; the flowers on top of the bush turned a deep red, those in the middle became pink, while those near the earth remained white. In Persia the nightingale cries out when a rose is picked and sings because of its love of the red rose which is stained with its blood. In India at one
time Brahma and Vishnu were of equal rank. One day they were discussing flowers and Brahma said that the lotus was the most beautiful of flowers. Vishnu showed Brahma the rose and he had to admit defeat.
In Persia the infant Zoroaster (Zarathustra) was placed on a bed of burning logs to die, but they turned into a bed of roses. Red roses were often connected in story with lire, and the ashes on which several Christian martyrs were burned turned into roses, but in their cases, too late. However, Zoroaster's couch was not the original "bed of roses" which refers to the Sybarites who slept on mattresses stuffed with rose petals.
In Rome at the time of the Empire roses were lavishly used to add to the luxury of banquets, often in quantities comparable to such modem fetes as the Festival of Roses in Los Angeles. The rose garden of King Midas was one of the wonders of the ancient world.
Anciently in Greece, Rome, and China, and more recently in Europe and England, the rose has become a funeral flower; in Switzerland the cemetery is often referred to as the Rosengarten, which in this allusion is a kind of cross between churchyard and heaven. In England it is customary to plant a rosebush at the head of the grave of a deceased lover who died before the wedding. In Wales a white rose is planted on the grave of a virgin and a red one on the grave of any respected person. A rose is often used in the decoration on the tombstone of a virgin.
Sub rosa, under the rose, means in secret, and refers to the ancient custom of hanging a rose over the council table to indicate that all present are sworn to secrecy.
This in turn may have sprung from the legend that Eros gave a rose to Harpocrates, god of silence, to keep him from revealing the indiscretions of Venus. At any event it is known to have been in use as early as 477 B.C. Up to quite recent times a rose in the decoration of the dining room ceiling was a gracious invitation to talk freely without fear, but this custom is no longer observed.
There are various references in story to persons being enchanted and turned into animals who regained their human form by eating a rose, as Apuleius in the Golden Ass (see ASS), and St. Denis, the patron of France. At one time in England the officiating clergy wore wreaths of roses on St. Barnabas' Day; in Rome there was a Rose
Sunday. In Germany the associations of the rose are not always happy. It has been worn as a punishment for immoral conduct. In much of Europe the red rose is an evil omen. Seeing the petals fall is a sign of death although in Germany this may be counteracted by burning some of the fallen petals. In Wales and parts of England, it is an ill omen when roses bloom out of season. In British Columbia, the Thompson Indians pass widows and widowers four times through a rose bush so that the thorns will purify them of the spirits of their dead mates. Whether singly or in chaplets, roses have been used as a chastity test (H432.1), signifying infidelity by fading or changing color. In parts of the southern United States, a folded petal is sometimes struck against the forehead; if it cracks, the person in mind loves you; if .it does not, your love is one-sided.
The use of the rose medicinally has continued unabated from tiie time of Hippocrates to the present day British Ministry of Health. The fruit, or hips, contain more than twenty times the amount of vitamin C found in oranges. Almost every part of the plant is used (root, bark, leaves, petals, fruit) and prepared in every conceivable way from delicious confection^ with sugar and honey to the bitter root-bark tea. Rose petals from the altar of Aphrodite w'ere used to cure Cyrus, King of the Medes and the Persians. In Greece the petals were used both internally and externally to cure the bite of mad dogs. Gerard recommends rose-petal conserve for "shak- ings and tremblings of the heart." The Romans believed that the rose would prevent drunkenness either by its presence, or by floating a petal in the cup. The North American Tewa Indians powder the dried petals and use them in a salve for sore mouth. Only a generation ago a sillabub of roses was recommended for sore throat, and a pint of claret in which a handful of rose petals had been boiled was considered a good compress for a sprain. In 1943 the people of England gathered 500 tons of rose hips and hundreds of pounds of dried petals for the manufacture of needed drugs, [JWH] rosemary According to Culpeper, an herb of the sun under the dominion of the Ram. Ophelia's famous line, "Rosemary, that's for remembrance," expressed the common knowledge of the day; for rosemary has been symbolic of remembrance, fidelity, and friendship since early times and in this connection was most frequently used as a funeral wreath and in wedding ceremonies. In medieval Germany, however, some brides wore it to guard against pregnancy. In ancient Greece, students wore rosemary twined in their hair while studying for examinations also "for remembrance" (i.e. to strengthen their memory) and because it was believed to bring success to any undertaking. It was one of the early strewing herbs both because of its pleasing odor and because it kept out moths, vermin, and evil spirits. A sprig under the bed induced sound sleep and protected from harm and nightmare. The Romans used rosemary to crown the heads of their guests and of their household gods. Some say this herb will thrive only for the righteous or where the woman rules the household. In the Netherlands it is called elf-leaf, and is a favorite haunt of these little people. Christian legend says that the rosemary opened up to give Mary and the infant Jesus shelter from Herod's soldiers on their flight into Egypt, hence its dull white flowers were given the blue color of the Virgin's mantle. Another Christian legend states that the shrub does not grow higher than Christ's height on earth, and that at the age of 33 it ceases to grow and increases only in breadth. This plant was probably introduced into England by the Romans, but it is also said to have come to England with Queen Philippa of Hainaut in the 14th century. In any event it has flourished there and is said to be more fragrant in England than in any other land. Making a box of rosemary wood and smelling it keeps one young; in Wales, cooking-spoons of the wood are believed to make everything more nutritious.
Because rosemary is a plant of remembrance, it is a sovereign remedy for all diseases of the brain and is strengthening to the mind in all forms. But its uses seem to have spread to the whole head, for besides the brain, a decoction of rosemary in wine is good for loss of speech, sore eyes, and to clear the complexion. The ashes or charcoal of rosemary wood were used in England to clean the teeth, and to this day it is used in preparations for the hair to prevent baldness. Culpeper recommends cigars rolled from the leaves to smoke for coughs and consumption. He also recommends the flowers with bread and salt the first thing in the morning to dispel wind, and a flower conserve to comfort the heart and prevent contagion. Bathing in rosemary water makes the old young again. The boiled leaves bound to the leg with linen cloths are good for gout. A tea brewed of the leaves is good for fevers, pains, and colds, and taken cold with an equal amount of wine it is excellent to restore lost appetite. A decoction of rosemary put into the beer barrel secretly was said to be a sure cure for drunkenness. See ST. AGNES EVE. [JWH]