The ancestors of our garden roses are the wild roses, which grow across the northern hemisphere. The best known English variety is the dog rose, Rosa Canina. We do not known where it gets its name from, though one story is that its roots could be used to cure the bite of a rabid dog. A tall climbing plant, its pink and white flowers, with five flat petals, brighten our hedgerows in June. It was probably a dog rose that Rupert Brooke was thinking of when he wrote, "Unkempt about those hedges blows/ An English unofficial rose."

One of our earliest cultivated roses was the Rosa Gallica, native to southern and central Europe, which is richly scented and has pink or red petals. This was grown by the Ancient Greeks and the Romans, who both used it to make perfume. When the Roman Emperor Nero showered his dinner guests with rose petals, they were probably from gallicas.

The best known gallica variety is Rosa Gallica Officinalis, the apothecary's rose, named after its medieval use in making perfume and medicine. It is also called the red damask, after Damascus, for it may have been brought to England by crusaders returning from the Holy Land.

Another early rose variety was the white Rosa Alba, a cross between a gallica and a dog rose. In the middle ages, the alba was adopted by the Church as a symbol of the Virgin Mary, for its whiteness symbolised her purity.

Royal rose

The use of the rose as a royal emblem comes from Henry VII (reigned 1485-1509), founder of the Tudor dynasty. Henry came to power at the end of the wars between two branches of the Plantagenet family, the Houses of Lancaster and York. Henry was a Lancastrian, whose marriage to Elizabeth of York united the two houses. Searching for a symbol to demonstrate this union, he chose a red rose, representing Lancaster, superimposed on a white rose, representing York. These were only two among many badges used by the rival families, yet they were the most suitable for heraldic combination. As a result, the civil wars came to be called the "Wars of the Roses", a phrase first used by Walter Scott in his 1829 historical novel Anne Of Geirestein.

During the Tudor period, hundreds of inns were named the Rose, partly to show loyalty to the royal family. We still have many pubs and hotels named after the flower, often combining it with another symbol, such as the Crown. The Rose was also the name of one of the most famous Elizabethan playhouses, built in 1587 on Bankside. To find out more about the Rose Theatre click here. And find out more about another Bankside theatre, the Globe, here

Another famous Tudor rose is the Mary Rose warship, now on display in Portsmouth. Henry VIII named her after his favourite sister, Mary Tudor, who was said to be one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe.

Sign of secrecy

Since Roman times, the rose has been a symbol of secrecy. The fourth century Christian writer, Gregory Naziansen, wrote, "Like the rose in spring hidden in its bud, so must the mouth be closed and restrained with strong reins, enforcing silence to loquacious lips." So roses were painted over Church confessional boxes and on the ceilings of banqueting rooms. Conversations held "sub rosa" (under the rose) were in strictest confidence. The 18th century Jacobites, who wished to restore the exiled Stuarts to the throne, used a white rose as their badge, for their secret meetings were held "sub rosa".

The Chinese Tea Rose

The Chinese have been breeding roses for thousands of years, and their varieties were first introduced to Europe in the late 18th century. One Chinese variety is the Tea Rose, a delicate plant valued because of its beautiful petals and ability to produce flowers repeatedly. It was widely grown in Victorian conservatories.

Until the late 19th century, new rose varieties were created by natural crosses between plants, with promising results selected and nurtured by gardeners and nurserymen. In 1867, the French horticulturalist, Jean-Baptiste Guillot discovered a cross between a Tea Rose and a tougher Hybrid Perpetual. Guillot named this "La France" and it is considered to be the first modern rose. It combined the Perpetual's hardiness and firm flower stems with the Tea Rose's elegant leaves and large high-centred flowers with long petals.  

From the 1880s, the Englishman Henry Bennett (1823-90) and the Frenchman Joseph Pernet-Ducher (1832-1896) created many new varieties of hybrid tea roses by deliberate cross-pollination. Pernet-Ducher's greatest achievement was to create a bright yellow rose in 1900, which he called "Soleil d'or". All modern yellow roses are descended from this plant. Thanks to the work of Bennett and Pernet-Ducher, hybrid teas remain the most popular of all rose varieties.

Rugby rose

In 1871, the newly formed Rugby Football Union selected an England team to play the first ever international match against Scotland. The committee chose a red rose on a white jersey as the team's badge. Although England lost the match, held in Edinburgh, England rugby sides have worn red roses ever since.

Labour rose

In 1986, the Labour Party also chose the red rose, during the party's rebranding under Neil Kinnock and Peter Mandelson, director of communications. The idea came from Neil Kinnock, himself a rose grower, who admired the flower's use by Nordic socialist parties. The existing symbol of the red flag was seen as threatening and linked with "old style socialism", while the rose was positive and patriotic. Designer Philip Sutton drew hundreds of different roses before the final version was chosen. According to Elle magazine (December 1986), at the party conference a journalist asked Peter Mandelson why the rose had no thorns. He supposedly replied, "We have enough pricks in this party as it is!"