Rosa sempervirens hybrids
(W.R.S., D.R.G.)
rambler rose
Evergreen, scrambling or lianoid shrub; stems usually long and trailing or climbing to c. 5 m high, often intertwining, layering extensively, glabrous; armature of uniform, scattered, flattened and rather small, slightly curved prickles, denser on vigorous vegetative shoots. Lvs with (2)-3 pairs of leaflets; petiole usually 15-25 mm long, glabrous or sometimes with scattered glandular hairs and pricklets on rachis; stipules completely adnate, deeply and irregularly toothed, glabrous except for scattered marginal glandular hairs. Lamina of leaflets (10)-15-40-(50) × 8-25-(30) mm, usually broadly elliptic to broadly obovate or ± orbicular, sometimes broadly ovate, moderately to very glossy green and glabrous, bronzy red when young; margins sharply serrate; base rounded to slightly cuneate; apex rounded to acute, rarely acuminate. Fls usually many, in rather dense clusters, double, 25-50-(60) mm diam.; pedicels glabrous, rarely with scattered glandular hairs. Sepals ± ovate-oblong, cuspidate or acuminate, tomentose inside, glabrate to tomentose, and sometimes with a few glandular hairs outside; outer sepals sometimes with a few linear lobes. Petals numerous, 13-25 mm long, narrowly obovate or obovate, pink to rose in bud, white inside at anthesis. Styles free but forming a column, long-exserted, hairy. Fr. not seen.
N.: N. Auckland, Auckland, N. Taranaki, scattered further S. to Wellington; S.: Marlborough, Nelson, Buller, Westland, Canterbury.
Cultivated hybrids 1966
Roadsides and hedgerows, scrub in the vicinity of old homesteads and settlements, sometimes densely covering many square m.
FL Nov-Feb.
The description above applies mostly to cv. 'Félicité et Perpétué', one of the commonest and most widespread rambler roses wild in N.Z. It is distinguished from all the R. wichuraiana hybrids by the reddish young lvs, the double, fragrant fls which are numerous in the dense infls and are produced only in midsummer, and the petals which are crimson outside and white inside in bud and white at anthesis (except for the outermost petals). A very closely related and similar cv., `Adélaide d'Orléans', differs by the petals being deep pink outside in bud and slightly pink at anthesis, whilst the pendent infls have been likened to those of a double-flowered Prunus serrulata. This cv. has long been in cultivation in N.Z. and has probably escaped to a minor extent although no specimens can be referred to it with certainty. R. sempervirens is indigenous to S. Europe and it or its hybrids were almost certainly introduced to N.Z. before the R. wichuraiana hybrids were available. Both parent spp. belong to sect. Synstylae.
