There are 35 major species of Rosa: "readily hybridizing and forming a difficult complex of microspecies" (Flora Eur.). Any attempt to claim Roman roses as this or that species, much less as any single cultivar are doomed to failure. Different types of roses are depticted in Roman art (some with four petals!) and it is unlikely that any type known to Vergil has survived unchanged. As Jashemski (2002: 160) noted, "None of the roses depicted in wall paintings at Pompeii can be identifed with any degeee of accuracy."
On the elusive "twice-bearing rose of Paestum" (G. 4.119), Mynors (1990 ad loc.) noted: "Some roses do bloom twice, but biferi is probably a poetical expression for an unusually long season."
Pictures 1-3: House of the Fruit Orchard (Casa del frutteto). There are rose placed to the right and left of the urns in the dado. 3 shows a detail.
Pictures 4-6: House of the Gold Bracelet (Casa del Bracciale d'Oro; also called House of the Wedding of Alexander; VI. insula occid. 42). 4 (a huge scan) shows (from l to r) Madonna lillies, opium poppies, a young date palm tree, wild morning glories (Calystegia sepium) and roses. 5 shows a rose just below the rim of the basin, with a plane tree in the background.
7. A ceiling fragment from the House of the Calavii (also Casa dei Quadretti Teatrali; I.vi.11) shows lilies, roses, and tiny blue cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus).
8-9: Villa of Livia at Prima Porta.
10-11. House of the Marine Venus. There are roses to the left of the basin and to the right of the statue of Mars.
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