Description: A perennial climbing shrub 60-100 cm high, with trailing stems and erect thorny twigs bearing single, deep pink or red flowers. The thorny leaves are unpaired pinnate, consisting of five to seven leaflets, on long petioles. The strongly scented flowers appear in May and June. After the flowering period, hips enclosing hairy achenes are formed on the twigs.
Origin and Distribution: This species grows wild in Europe and western Asia, on chalky soils in woodland clearings. It is cultivated in France, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and the USSR, for the fragrant rose oil. The closely related damask rose (Rosa damascena), in its red-flowering form trigintipetala, is the source of Bulgarian rose oil or attar of roses. It is cultivated in the famous `Rose Valley’ near Kazanlak in Bulgaria.
Harvesting and Preparation: The petals from which the volatile oil is distilled are gathered in full bloom, in the early morning when the content of volatile oil is at its highest. Production is enormous: approximately 4-5,000 kg of rose petals are harvested per hectare; from them about 1 kg cif volatile oil is obtained.
Constituents: The content of volatile oil obtained by distillation with steam varies between 0.1-0.6 per cent. Its main components are citronellol (40-50 per cent) and geraniol (20 per cent).
Cosmetic Uses: The outstanding fragrance of the volatile oil makes it an invaluable perfume used in many cosmetics. Rose oil is suitable for making into face creams, lipsticks, skin lotions and powders. It is the basic substance for rose perfumes, it is used as a nuancer for ‘Chat Noir’, and is an active substance of Chanel No. 5 and Amber. Rose oil is very expensive and so it is frequently adulterated, often with palmarose oil obtained from Indian grass (Cymbopogon martini) or with volatile oils of some of the fragrant Geranium species.
Other Uses: In pharmacy, rose oil (Oleum rosae) and rose water (Aqua rosae) are used to perfume medicated creams and solutions for external use.
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