Edward Rose finally comes home

In the good old days, every home garden in Keralam had its own fragrant Edward Rose (panneer poo), filling the air with magical perfume and charm.After a long search in Bengaluru, I finally found a small plant of this variety, with just a single flower to boast of. I brought it home, planted it in a sunny corner, and tenderly nurtured it with daily hydration and weekly manure. Once that first flower withered, however, there were no more blooms for over a year. When the plant grew into a bush, spreading its branches, I pruned it to stimulate growth. Soon, I spotted a bud that metamorphosed into three, and within a few days, there was a trio of pink blooms.Enthralled, I edged forward, extending my arm to direct the three beauties towards my olfactory orifices. A sudden pang of pain halted me. I realised that I had acquired two rows of abrasions across my forearm. As I withdrew my arm in agony, I wondered: were there roses without thorns?Just then, I remembered the “thornless rose” of Assisi. The story goes that St Francis, the 13th-century mystic, threw himself into a thicket of briars to inflict pain upon himself and mitigate his worldly temptations. Aligning your heart with God’sIt is believed that when the thorns touched his body, they disappeared, and the plant burst into beautiful, aromatic blooms. This rose, named Rosa Canina Assisiensis, still grows in the rose garden I had visited in the courtyard of the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels in Assisi and is believed to be the only rose without thorns.Edward Rose, too, has an intriguing history. Monsieur Edouard Perichon, from the Réunion Islands, is considered to have discovered it in his garden in the early 19th century, when a crossbreed of Chinese and Persian roses produced this exceptionally fragrant variety. Some believe that the rose originated in India during the Chola period. It came to be known as panneer roja (fragrant rose) or rojapoo. There are also beliefs that it was brought to India by Muslims. References to Edward Roses in Kolkata date back to the 18th century. Scions of Edouard’s family later spread across the globe, reaching even the French colony of Puducherry and creating a fascinating Franco-Indian connection.My drifting thoughts were finally interrupted by the enchanting scent wafting from the pink petals. And to Shakespeare’s immortal words from Romeo and Juliet: ‘That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.’Let me add: A rose, with or without thorns, would smell just as sweet.

Source: Deccan Herald