Book  (2006)  Page(s) 77.  
 
Graph: Flower production...under Faisalabad climatic conditions. Rosa damascena. [March 25 blooms, April 35 blooms - compared to R. centifolia which bloomed around the whole year]

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 113-114.  
 
R. damascena

Percentage Composition of the Components Identified through Gas Chromatography in Essential Oil of Rosa Extracted through Hexane Solvent Extraction.

Citronellol 62.134
Methyl Eugenol 4.214
Geraniol 1.254
Geranyl Acetate 3.524
Phenyl ethyl Alcohol 19.254
Linalool 1.247
Nerol 0.234
Benzaldehyde 0.234
Benzyl Alcohol 1.257
Rhodinyl Acetate 2.345
Citronellyl Acetate 1.810
Benzyl Acetate 0.941
Phenyl ethyl Formate 0.781

Percentage Composition of the Components Identified through Gas Chromatography in Essential Oil of Rosa extracted through Ether Solvent Extraction

Citronellol 57.247
Methyl Eugenol 3.781
Geraniol 1.132
Geranyl Acetate 3.532
Phenyl ethyl Alcohol 22.721
Linalool 1.107
Nerol -
Benzaldehyde 0.432
Benzyl Alcohol 1.543
Rhodinyl Acetate -
Citronellyl Acetate 1.243
Benzyl Acetate -
Phenyl ethyl Formate -

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 124-125.  
 
Rosa damascena produced flowers only in the months of March and April but as the temperature increased, it stopped producing flowers....From the present results it was revealed that Rosa damascena produced flowers only for 7 to 8 weeks....
It may be concluded that floral induction in Rosa damascena is permitted shortly after bud break in spring when concentrations of GAs are low and is inhibited by the subsequently higher levels of GAs.

Article (magazine)  (2006)  Page(s) 19.  
 
...R. gallica and Damask rose possess a typical European scent, rich in monoterpenes and phenylethanol but devoid of phenolic methyl ethers...data suggests that the European species do not synthesize DMT [3,5-dimethoxytoluene] because they lack active OOMT [Orcinol O-methyltransferase] enzymes.

Article (magazine)  (2006)  Page(s) 26.  
 
...neither OOMT [Orcinol O-Methyltransferase enzyme] activity nor OOMT protein could be detected in the floral organs of [R. gallica and Damask rose]. The genomes of both R. gallica and Damask rose contain OOMT homologous sequences, but these genes are not expressed at detectable levels in either floral organs or leaves....

Article (website)  (13 Jun 2005)  
 
The second species of indigenous rose is rosa demacena (damask rose) useful for perfumes and is high in cost.

Article (magazine)  (10 Jun 2005)  Page(s) 807.  
 
...The obtained data reveals genetic similarity of a large group of 31 rose genotypes consisting of several
distinguishing sub-groups:
1. Twenty-four accession of R. damascena var. Kazanlik (phenotype trigintipetala) from the IRAP collection,
used for rose oil production. These plants were selected from different regions of the Rose Valley, Bulgaria, during the period 1924–1980, and part of them show differences in cold tolerance, flower yield, and content of rose oil.
2. Two rose accessions from the IRAP collection, originating from the region of Azaran, Iran, and the region of Aligar, India. Both genotypes were considered as R. damascena due to their morphology and the composition of the rose oil (Staikov and Kalaidjiev 1980).
3. Two old European Damask rose varieties, one of which, ‘Quatre Saisons’, plays an important role in old European rose improvement in the 19th century.
4. Three R. damascena accessions from the Roseraie du Val de Marne and PSL collections including the old
accession of var. Kazanlik, which had been known since 1689, and a R. damascena accession from the PSL collection originating from Turkey.
The identical microsatellite profiles of the group of oil and old European Damask rose genotypes strongly suggests that all of them originate from a single common ancestor. The obtained data suggests that clones of one genotype were spread in distant geographic regions of Europe and Asia and successfully vegetative propagated for centuries. The results of our study support the reported genetic uniformity of the R. damascena plants grown in Turkey (Agaoglu et al. 2000; Baydar et al. 2004) and the common origin of the old Damask rose varieties (Iwata et al. 2000). The reasons for the observed dominance of one ancestor Damask rose genotype are not clear. It could be result from its vigor and plasticity, allowing successful adaptation to diverse climate and soil conditions or from directed long-term propagation and cultivation of one superior variety because of the scent or the superior quality of rose oil and water. The claims that the roses from this genotype were mentioned in the old Greek literature (Hurst 1941) and cultivated by the Romans and found in Pompei (Krussmann 1962) support the second assumption. The obtained data from the present study also demonstrates that the entire rose oil industry in Bulgaria is based on a very narrow genepool consisting of a set of well performing clones. Similar results were reported earlier for the oil rose genetic resources in Turkey (Agaoglu et al. 2000; Baydar et al. 2004).

Article (magazine)  (2005)  Page(s) 373-4.  
 
Recovery of concrete oil from petals of Rosa demascena was higher (0.24%) than Rosa centifolia (0.22%) on fresh weight basis. Similarly absolute oil recovered from concrete oil of Rosa demascena was higher (10.17%) and 0.03% on the petal weight basis than Rosa centifolia (9.83% and 0.02%, respectively).

Some chemical constituents of essential oil of Rosa centifolia and Rosa damascena
Rosa centifolia (%age Constituents)
Geraniol 2.98
Eugenol 3.99
Rhodinol 4.05
Citronellol 12.09
Linalool 1.68
Citranellyl acetate 4.09
Phenyl ethyl alcohol 56.68
Rhodinyl acetate 1.94

Rosa damascene (%age Constituents)
Geraniol 1.53
Eugenol 1.68
Rhodinol 2.69
Citronellol 3.72
Linalool 1.02
Citranellyl acetate 2.46
Phenyl ethyl alcohol 70.86
Rhodinyl acetate 0.42

Article (misc)  (2003)  
 
The origin of the oldest Damask varieties was examined using the tools of biology. Other than randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), the ITS sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA are widely used for phylogenetic analysis at lower taxonomic levels because they evolve rapidly. The sequences from the following have been determined: three Damask roses (AB043830–AB043838), a variety of R. gallica officinalis (AB043824, AB043835), three varieties of Rosa phoenica (AB043826–AB043829), two varieties of R. moschata (AB043000, AB043003, AB043004), two varieties of R. moschata nepalensis (AB043001, AB043002), a variety of R. moschata plena (AB043005), a variety of Rosa fedtschenkoana (AB043822, AB043823) and a variety of R. stellata mirifica (AB043212). On the basis of the sequence analysis, R. moschata, R. gallica and R. fedtschenkoana are parental species of the original hybridization that contributed to forming the four oldest Damask varieties. DNA sequences of chloroplast psbA–trnH spacer sequences from these rose varieties (AB048211, AB043945–AB043952) have also been determined to reveal that all of the oldest Damask varieties had chloroplasts derived from R. moschetta, which indicates that this species is the universally maternal species of Damask roses. The spacer psbA–trnH region is known to evolve faster than the matK coding region.

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 443.  
 
Rosa damascena Mill., Gard. dict. ed. 8 (1768) no. 15.
Rosa belgica Mill., l.c., no. 17; R. calendarum Borkh., Vers. forstbot. Beschr. (1790) 338; R. multiflora vel polyantha Rössig, Ökon.-bot. Beschr. Ros. 1 (1799) 69, nom. altern., non R. multiflora Thunb. (1784); R. polyanthus Rössig, Rosen (1802) no. 35; Rosa bifera Pers., Syn. Pl. 2 (1806) 48; R. gallica var. damascena Voss, Vilmorins Blumengärtn. 1 (1894) 254; R. damascena f. trigintipetala Keller ex Asch. & Graebn., Syn. mitteleur. Fl. 6, 1 (1900) 52.
Damasc rose; German Damaszener Rose, Portlandrose; French rose de damas, rose de Puteaux; Russian roza damasskaja; Chinese du jue qiang wei; Sanskrit shatapatri; Hindi gulab ke phul, fosli gulab; Korean punhongkkothyangjanmi.
Only known in cultivation.
R. damascena is of hybrid origin from crossings betwee R. gallica L. and R. phoenicia Boiss. or R. moschata Herrm., probably in Syria.
Cultivated in S France, S Italy, Morocco, Libya, Turkey, Ukraine, Crimea, Caucasus, Syria, India, China and N Korea, sometimes escaped.
One of the most important Rosa species for flowers use. The rose oil is used for fine perfumes and as aroma for foodstuffs. Fruits are used for beverages and sweets. In Java young leaves and shoots are eaten as a delicacy. In India buds, flowers and fruits are drugs.
About 300 years ago R. damascena and its cultivation and processing procedure were introduced into Bularia and further on into the other countries in Europe and Africa from Turkey. With the highly productive cultivar 'Trigintipetala' an area of intensive commercial production of rose oil in the surrounding of Kazanlâk (Bulgaria) was developed.
Ref.: Backer & Van den Brink 1, 1963; Gildemeister & Hoffmann 5, 1969; Hammer et al. 1987, 323; Hammer et al. 1988, 475; Hegi IV (2), 1923; Krüssmann 3, 1978; Ochs & Van den Brink 1931, 1005 pp.; Rehm & Espig 1976, 496 pp.; Singh 1970, 175; Singh & Deolia 1963, 76; Terra 1966, 107 pp.; Wealth of India 9, 1972; Widrlechner 1981, 42.