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Article|01 Apr 2020|OPEN
Narcea—an unknown, ancient cultivated rose variety from northern Spain
María-Carmen Martínez;;José-Luis Santiago;;Susana Boso;;Pilar Gago1 , Inmaculada Álvarez-Acero;; María-Estela De Vega ;; Miguel Martínez-Bartolomé2 , Rafael Álvarez-Nogal3 , Pilar Molíst4 , Matteo Caser ;; Valentina Scariot5 and Daniel Gómez-García,6
1Misión Biológica de Galicia (CSIC), Carballeira 8, Salcedo, 36143, Pontevedra, Spain
2Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos y Nutrición (CSIC) (Spain), C/José Antonio Novais 10, 28040, Madrid, Spain
3Departamento de Biología Molecular-Área de Biología Celular, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain
4Grupo Neurolamb, Biología funcional y Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Vigo (Spain), 36310, As Lagoas-Marcosende, Spain
5Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095, Grugliasco, Turin, Italy
6Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC), Dpto. Conservación de Ecosistemas Naturales, Avda. Montaña S/N, Zaragoza, 50016, Zaragoza, Spain

Horticulture Research 7,
Article number: 44 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-020-0266-8
Views: 1146

Received: 16 Sep 2019
Revised: 06 Feb 2019
Accepted: 12 Feb 2020
Published online: 01 Apr 2020

Abstract

The present work reports the discovery and the complete characterisation of an ancient cultivated rose variety found growing in a private garden in the southwest of the Principality of Asturias (northern Spain). The variety is here given the name Narcea. The majority of roses currently cultivated belong to the so-called group of ‘Modern Roses’, all of which were obtained after 1867 via artificial crosses and improvement programmes. All are destined for ornamental use. Until the 19th century, the great majority of the many ancient cultivated roses in Europe were used in perfumery and cosmetics, or had medicinal uses. Rosa damascena and Rosa centifollia are still grown and used by the French and Bulgarian perfume industries. The Asturian Massif of the Cantabrian Mountain Range provides a natural habitat for some 75% of the wild members of the genus Rosa, but until now there was no evidence that this area was home to ancient cultivated roses. A complete botanical description is here provided for a discovered ancient rose. It is also characterised according to a series of sequence tagged microsatellite sites, and its agronomic features are reported. In addition, a histological description (optical and scanning electronic microscope studies) of the petals is offered, along with an analysis of the volatile compounds present in these organs as determined by solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The results reveal the uniqueness of this ancient type of rose and suggest it may be of interest to the perfume industry.