the establishment of the diocese in 815. The first recorded significance of the flower dates back hundreds of years ago to The Academy of Floral Games (founded in 1323), which gifted poets a sprig of dog rose to reward them for their literary excellence. Due to this ritual, the branches became increasingly popular and can be found frequently mentioned in several famous poems. Most prevalent in the United Kingdom, William Shakespeare wrote about the flower in "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream", which in his time was called eglantine, though it can now also refer to Rosa rubiginosa (Sweet brier) Oberon, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene I quoting his words: "With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." Symbolically, the meaning of this shrub is quite extensive since the two dominating themes surrounding the flower are pain and pleasure. An old riddle is called "The Five Brethren of the Rose": On a summer's day, in sultry weather Five Brethren were born together Two had beards and two had none And the other had but half a one. The riddle contains an effective way of identifying the differing roses of the canina group, where the brethren refers to the five sepals of the dog-rose, two of which are whiskered on both sides, two quite smooth and the last one whiskered on one side only. The flower is one of the national symbols of Romania. References Further reading Flora Europaea: Rosa canina Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. . Vedel, H. & Lange, J. (1960). Trees and bushes. Metheun, London. Graham G.S. & Primavesi A.L. (1993). Roses of Great Britain and Ireland. B.S.B.I. Handbook No. 7. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London. External links canina Medicinal plants Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Flora of the Pyrenees Flora of Italy Flora of Lebanon Flora of Spain Flora of Ukraine Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus National symbols of Romania National symbols of Moldova