This beautiful flower Rose has a universal appear. Poets, craftsmen and painters have found joy and inspiration in the range of colours, form, substance and fragerance this exquisite flower offers. While the ancestry of rose can be traced to earliest tossly remains, its imposing advent is unmistakably with the arrival of the Hybrid Tea celebrated for its classic form and range of colours. Man has taken over from nature and the new crations of hybridisers continue to be a source of marvel and delight. History of roses in India dates back to 334-323 BC when it is reported that Alexander the Great in his epic drive to the borders of India sent one of the newly observed rose plants back to his ment.. Arstotle and to ancient Greece.

Later during the Moghul period too, the legendary gardens at Samarkhand and at the famous monument of Taj Mahal roses were present. It is to India that the world owes the discovery of otto or attar of roses. Empress Nur Jahan once noticed an oily filn floating on the surface of her favorite rose water bath. This substance was seperated and distilled and rose oil or attar was discovered. While roses have been popular in India through legend and poetry in recent times roses of Indian origin introduced by hybridisers in India have attracted attention worldwide. Rose breeding started early in the first half of the century and one of the earliest breeders was Bhattacharji (BS) the well known murseryman of Deogarh. Scientific rose breeding on modern times started during the nineteen sixties at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi.

There are three popular varieties of modern roses, viz. (i) Hybrid Teas (HT for short), which produce large flowers on single stems. (ii) Floribundas which produce clusters of medium sized flowers and (iii) Miniatures, which are small and exact replicas of HTs. In India there are today over three hundred varieties developed locally, prominent amogst these are 'Raja Ram Mohan Roy (AM Bhattacharji, 1959) apricot coloured, 'Sugandha', again a richly fragrent variety from SM Bhattacharji (1964), the pristine pure white 'Dr. Homi Bhabha (Pal, 1968), a lovely red and silver 'Srinivasa' (Kasturirangan, 1969), the 'Banjaran', a brilliant red and gold (Pal, 1969) and many bewitching ones- 'Bhim', 'Jawahar', 'Mrinalini', 'Mohini' from the IARI.

Brief descriptions are given below: MRINALINI (IARI, 1974): A hybrid seeding from the cross of 'Pink Partait' and 'Christian Dior' (HT) Phlox pink, long pointed buds open to very large (10cm diameter across), well formed blooms on long stem. The flowers are long lasting and borne on vigorous growing bushes (plant height 85 cms) producing about 60 blooms in a season from December to April. Text courtesy Friends of Roses Bombay and Rose Society of India- New Delhi.

The Indian Posts & Telegraphs Department is proud to celebrate the beauty of rose, and is releasing these two special postage stamps as a tribute to the rose breeders of our country and all lovers of roses around the world.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India