Product Description

1. Introduction
The genus Rosa includes **0 species and more than ****0 cultivars (Gudin ***0). However, only a few of them exhibit the marked fragrance that is sought by perfumeries around the world (Antonelli et al. ***7). Rosa damascena Mill. (Damask rose, Oil-bearing rose, Pink rose) is the most important species, producing a high-value aromatic oil, which is used in the pharmaceutical, flavourings and fragrance industries (Lawrence ***1).

The main producers of oil-bearing rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) in the world are Turkey, Bulgaria, Morocco, Iran, Egypt, France, China and India. Turkey and Bulgaria are the two largest rose oil and rose concrete producers in the world. Approxiamately 1.**2 tons rose oil and 3.**4 tons rose concrete are produced anually in Turkey. Rose oil and rose concrete production in Bulgaria are estimated as **1.5 tons and 2.**3 tons, respectively. The total world production of rose oil and rose concrete was estimated to be ****0 tons.

In Turkey, the famous ‘Turkish Rose Oil’ from Rosa damascena has been producing in large quantities for over **0 years. In addition to the rose oil and rose concrete, some important base materials of the cosmetic industry such as bioconcrete, absolute, bioabsolute and rose water are also obtained from the oil-bearing rose petals in Turkey. Today, exporting of rose oil, concrete, absolute, bioabsolute and rose water has important contrubution to the Turkish economy as a source for foreign exchange.

2. Oil-bearing Rose Species
It is generally accepted that there are many of rose species, yet only a few of them exhibit that marked fragrance that is sought by perfumeries in the world. The main rose species using in the essential oil production are oil-bearing rose (Rosa damascena Mill.), Apothecary's rose (Rosa gallica L.), Rose-de-mai (Rosa centifolia L.), White rose (R. alba L.), China rose (R. rugosa L.) and Musk rose (Rosa moschata Herrm.) (Guenther ***2, Lawrence ***1, Antonelli et al. ***7). In the world as well as Turkey, Rosa damascena Mill. (2n=*8) is the main species for oil production. Rosa damascena supposed to be form a hybridization between R. gallica L. and R. phoenicia Boiss., both of which grow wild in Turkey (Baytop ***3).
There is no any genetic variation among R. damascena plants grown in Turkey according to the results of RAPD, AFLP and microsatellite markers (Ağaoğlu et al. ***0, Göktürk Baydar et al. ***4). Therefore, it is necessary to create genetic variability especially for improving novel scent types of Rosa damascena thanks to the classical and biotechnological breeding methods. White rose (Rosa alba L.) is also grown in limited areas in Turkey. However much Rosa alba can grow in cold and unsuitable soils better than Rosa damascena, its oil content and oil quality are lower than pink rose. For this reason, white rose flowers are sold at half the price than that of the pink rose. This state also explain why the interest towards this rose subsided.

3. History of oil-bearing Rose in Turkey
Anatolia is one the oldest places in which rose oil is well-known and well-used. For example, Hippocrates mentions that "Rosaceum Oleum" was prepared in Anatolia by macerating fresh roses in olive oil. There are some documents that the first oil-bearing rose (Rosa damascena) cultivation is began in Thrace region of Turkey. The first roses were brought to Thrace by the returning soldiers of Alexander of Macedon's garrisons. Belgian chronicle mentions that in ***0 crusaders saw large areas planted with 1
roses near Edirne which was the first capital of the Turkish Empire. It was also the largest commercial center for a long period of time. The French Ambassador to Edirne wrote in ***9 that rose oil was produced in the environments of Edirne. It is assumed that those chroniclers, who wrote about Edirne, often had in mind the Rose valley as well. Administratively Kazanlak (Bulgaria) belonged to Edirne province and was thus under the supervision of its chief gardener. The soil and the climate in the Kazanlak region turned out to be quite suitable for the rose, so the planting was sustained there, while in the surroundings of Edirne it declined and eventually disappeared. Reviewing in detail all that was written on the origin of the Bulgarian oil-bearing rose, Venelin Topalov presumes that the cultivation of roses was introduced to the region around Kazanlak, a town founded in ***0, by Turks (Anonymous ***5).
Apart from the knowledge mentioned above, it is supposed that rose introduced into Isparta province of Turkey in ***0’s by a Turkish emigrant from Kazanlak. İsmail Efendi was the first person who accomplished to get first rose oil in the retorts in Isparta in ***2. After that, Göller region (Lakes region) of Turkey became extensively oil rose production center