Thursday, February 14, 2013

Rosa Mundi

 
I have this terrible habit of getting out there to take a picture when the last flower is about to drop its petals.  In this case there was one more bud, but I missed that one completely.  Really, it is just good to see the striped petals.  The tradition is that this is a cross of the Red Rose of Lancaster(Apothecary), and the White Rose of York(Rosa Alba).  The resulting rose was said to represent the two warring factions joined in marriage, as was the royal house that resulted from the Wars of the Roses.  Henry Tudor(a Lancaster relative) and Elizabeth of York, became Henry the VII and his queen.
Pretty legend, and likely the cross breeding may be true, but the name Rosa Mundi, is also said to be for Rosamund, the mistress of Henry II, which predates the Wars of the Roses by many generations.

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