LADY BUG: BY ANY OTHER NAME: ROSES HOLD HONORED PLACE IN HISTORY

There is no word better known to people all over the world than the naming of the most beloved of all flowers -- the rose. While delving into its history, it was found to have been with us for a long, long time and with many stories, fiction or narrations.

Rose growing friends and readers often accuse this column of slighting the rose. This may be a little true, because a person's own interest in the flower world seems to be the dominant factor, and since roses are so demanding and will not perform if they do not receive this attention in the form of fertilizing, spraying, pruning, etc., they have long been removed from the preferred list. So much is written about roses, the new introductions, the All-America Selections and new methods of culture, that today we have delved into some of the history of this world renowned flower.

Their name is known the world over, except the Dutch who have rearranged the letters lightly and call it the "roos." The rose has remained the same in every language, sometimes "rosa," since ancient times, when the single-petaled flower grew wild.

The word originally came from the old Greek "rhodon." A legend about the moss rose claims Asia as its first home. The story goes that one morning a careless fairy forgot to refresh the flower with the dew. As a result, the bush began to wilt. A little later when the fairy noticed the sadly drooping buds, she lovingly wrapped them with moss for protection and the moss rose has bloomed in this form ever since.

Egypt also has its say. When Cleopatra went to meet the handsome Marc Anthony, whom she was determined to fascinate, she ordered her slaves to deck the floors of her palace with a heavy carpet of roses. The result? Marc Anthony was so overcome by this beautiful sign that he requested the lovely queen to cover his tomb with roses.

In the days when there were feast-loving Romans, dinner time was frequently referred to as "the hour when the roses reign" because the floors of palaces, as well as the many tables, were heaped with the fragrant rose petals and leaves, and in a grand gesture of welcome, handfuls were thrown at honored guests in a confetti spray.

History tells us that the Emperor, Nero, who liked the fabulous rose so much, he slept on a bed of rose petals, ate the flower as food, and wore them constantly.

It was also the sacred flower of Venus, goddess of love and the Romans spread its culture every place their armies conquered.

In the Middle Ages, the rose was cultivated by the monks. It was the emblem of the early church, the chosen badge of a succession of English kings. Handmade chaplets of roses were worn in those times by women when they married or took the veil. At the end of the War of Roses, in 1885, the rose was the emblem of chivalry, love and poetry. The reign of King Henry VII saw roses used, along with apples and ribbons, to decorate gold Christmas trees.

Shakespeare frequently referred to roses. Probably his most famous line about them, is: "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." One of the most beautiful comparisons, however, appears in his "Taming of the Shrew"; "I'll say looks as clear as morning roses newly washed with dew."

Another credit for popularizing roses goes to Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon. This remarkable woman made the flower elegant, chic and fashionable by cultivating it in her gardens. She was widely imitated by her court and subjects, but led them all by her stunning 250 varieties. Today there are well over 20,000 kinds.

The rose is the national flower of Iran. Annually, a festival called "The Feast of the Roses" is held. Honduras is another country that has named the perfumed beauty as its floral emblem.

A top sporting event in the United States using a rose theme is the annual Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena, Calif. which is preceded by the nationally televised Tournament of Roses, where literally millions of the flowers are used in making the floats.

In America annual roses got their start from the first President. To Washington goes the credit for having grown a hybrid rose from seed at Mount Vernon. So entranced was he with its beauty that he named it for Martha Washington, permitted it to be grown and sold. Thus began a rose history in the United States.

Roses as we know them today are far superior to the older varieties. The modern many-petaled velvet types are the result of patient, loving care. Even the gorgeous American beauty, which a few years ago reigned as queen and sold for as much as $50 a dozen, has been replaced by red roses of superior quality and less expensive.

New roses do not evolve quickly. To develop one, the rosarian may spend half of his lifetime carefully grafting one variety of a bush to another. When that happy goal is reached, he goes right out and applies for his patent on his new invention. The name he chooses must not infringe on any other in the world of flowers. He must also be sure that the color, shape and characteristics are entirely new.

It was Gertrude Stein who said, "a rose is a rose is a rose."

Mary Blue lives in Cape girardeau and is an avid gardener.