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The Rose Is Blazon:
In heraldry, the rose is blazon of the difference or brisu-re of the seventh son. The heraldic rose is depicted without leaves or stem and has five petals. The badge of the house of York is a white rose, while that of the house of Lancaster, its former rival, was a red rose, and their numerous feudal combats are known in history as the Wars of the Roses. The Tudor rose is the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster combined. In old England, roses were the popular presents for birthdays, but in classic art a rose figured on a tomb denotes a short life. And with the Romans the graves were strewn with roses, emblematic of death.
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ROSE OF JERICHO, jer'i-ko, or RESURRECTION PLANT, rez-u-rek'shun, a small, annual, cruciferous plant (Anastatica hierochuntica) which grows in desert regions from Syria through Saudi Arabia and in northern Africa as far west as Algeria. It bears minute white flowers succeeded by tiny pods containing a few seeds. When the seeds are ripe the leaves fall off, the branches curl inward and interlace, enclosing the pods still holding their seeds, and become dry and rigid, causing the plant to assume the form of a ball, easily uprooted and blown about by winds during the dry season.Ever since the Middle Ages the pope has, on Laetare Sunday, blessed a golden rose which he bestows on some beneficiary. Some Italian writers have declared that the term sub rosa is derived from the fact of consecrated roses being placed over the confessionals at Rome to denote secrecy, the rose being a symbol of silence. In legend, Saint Dorothea, who suffered martyrdom under Fabricius, made a convert of Theophilus by sending him some roses from paradise. The rose is an attribute of Saints Casilda, Elizabeth of Portugal, Rose of Lirna, Rose of Viterbo, Rosalia, and others.
In heathen mythology the rose was dedicated to Aphrodite and was claimed either to have been created from the blood of Adonis or to have been caused by the sea foam dropping from the newly created Aphrodite bursting into bloom. In mythological evolution the rose became a symbol of Eros, later of the Muses and of the Graces. Dionysus (Bacchus) also had a rose as attribute, hence this flower decorated the guests at banquets. In this context it may be mentioned that the rose has always been the queen of wreath flowers and ornamental expression of beauty. In antithesis the rose was a symbol of decay; hence an emblem of death.
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