All About Red Roses

It is difficult to figure when the first red roses appeared, but we know that the color is a genetic characteristic that flowers developed mainly to attract pollinators. The petals contain flavonoids that reflect a color when exposed to solar radiation.
Thus, the flower color is due to the pigments present in the petals, but it is also induced by soil pH and thermodynamics.
Most pollinators are bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Bees, however, seem to be more attracted by scent than by color. Both butterflies and hummingbirds, particularly like the red color.

Since 35 million years ago, we can trace the flower history among other early civilizations then China, as the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Phoenicians.These civilizations also traded them which explains their spread throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean regions.

Although there's no evidence to date red roses arising, there are so many legends, both in religion and popular culture, about their creation! Its color is also relevant throughout history, constantly observing the duality of colors, red mainly associated with blood and martyrs, and white with purity.

There are more than 900 different varieties of red roses with different shades, varying in shapes and sizes with petals from glossy to matt. Their scent also varies considerably.

It was only during the 18th century, in Europe, that true red roses were discovered, coming from China. Before that they were deep or dark pink colors at their reddest.

They have been also used as symbols throughout history like the War of the Roses, a conflict for the control of the throne of England between 1455 and 1487.

But there were other "wars of roses" in history like the 1886 campaign for governor of Tennessee (US), contested between brothers and The Nineteenth Amendment ratification, in 1920, that would give women the right to vote. Suffragists weared yellow roses and anti-suffragists weared red roses.

After May 1968 street protests in Paris, when red roses were used as a badge by the marchers, most Socialist and Social Democratic parties used them as a symbol.

More recently Georgia's peaceful revolution in November 2003 was called the Revolution of Roses because demonstrators led by Mikheil Saakashvili stormed the Parliament session with red roses in hand.

They are also present in many stories and poems over the years such as the snow-white and rose-red, whose version was immortalized by the Grimm brothers, Oscar Wilde's Nightingale and the Rose, probably inspired by a Persian legend, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, related to the Queen of Hearts. They still appear in other remarkable literature as the Divine Comedy of Dante, through Shakespeare's work and in the poetry of Robert Burns, among many, many others.

^{“La Pioggia di Petali di Rose” is the rain of red petals coming down from Oculus of the Pantheon in Rome. It symbolizes the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of flames on the day of Pentecost and it dates back to the times of the early Christians.}

Abu Wad, with the help of his 13-year son, were the last ones to grow red roses, among other flowers, in Aleppo, while the town was devastated by war.

Everybody hopes that red roses can grow peacefully in Syria again.

According to Arthritis Research UK, hips have anti-inflammatory properties that may be effective in relieving some symptoms associated with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

During World War II, when the government urged householders to grow food in victory gardens as part of the war effort, rose hips were stressed as a high-C food. At that time, there were plenty of recipes around for eating them as “dinner vegetables” and as various kinds of preserves and jams.

Although there are fluctuations in the most sold flowers in the world, the roses always stand between the first three ranking places dealing with billions of dollar values.

The largest producers of the common ones sold in supermarkets and on the streets are Kenya, Ethiopia, Colombia and Ecuador and there are a big amount of social and ecological issues associated with them.

• Women are the main labor force working up to 15 hours, for starvation wages and bearing extremely precarious conditions.
• Workers' health is severely hampered by the systematic use of pesticides, 20% of which are banned in the United States and considered carcinogenic.
• Flower culture needs large amounts of water, which causes a big environmental impact. Lack of water is often felt, both for human consumption, and for other farmland.
• Lack of crop alternation depletes the soil and the pesticides contaminate land and water.
• Monoculture of the flower also endangers food as traditional crops cease to exist and has an impact on pollinators that reduce enormously.
• In addition, we have the flowers, transport and distribution environmental impact.

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