[From In Praise of Ramblers, by Otto Greef, p. 110:] The ramblers are most hybrids of Rosa wichuraiana or R. multiflora, with some of the dwarf garden roses -- Polyanthas, Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Teas, Bengals, and Teas.

[From Climbing Roses, by Stephen Scanniello, p. 4:] Climbing roses with very supple canes that grow from the base of the plant each year and produce laterals that bear large clusters of small flowers during one bloom period the following summer.

['Crimson Rambler' is R. multiflora's] most remarkable offspring… a hybrid from Japan… which took the world by storm in 1893… the first climber with massive clusters of brilliant flowers… hardy… long, pliable canes that could easily be used to achieve decorative effects not possible with earlier, stiffer climbers… the first of a group of roses that eventually came to be classed as ramblers.

[From Scanniello, p. 5:] ['Dorothy Perkins' was the] most notable wichuraiana hybrid at the turn of the century. This rambler, with huge clusters of pink flowers quickly eclipsed 'Crimson Rambler' in popularity.
[From Scanniello, p. 7:] ['Excelsa' Walsh (1909) is] a rambler with crimson blossoms [it] set a new standard for wichuraiana hybrids and it was soon grown everywhere, for it was healthier and easier to train than 'Crimson Rambler'.

[From Gardening with Roses, by Judith McKeon, p. 30:] Ramblers are once-blooming roses and typically produce a profusion of small flowers in large trusses, or clusters, in summer.

[From A Year of Roses, by Stephen Scanniello, p. 105:] [ramblers come] into their peak of bloom in Brooklyn during early July just as the modern shrub-type roses are beginning to fade. "Rambler" is descriptive of their natural growth habit. The new growth tends to be in the form of long, pliable canes, often starting from the base of the plant... [on this and following pages, Scanniello discusses the pros and con of ramblers, as well as how to train and prune them. Illustrated with black and white drawings.]

[From Gardening with Old Roses, by Alan Sinclair and Rosemary Thodey, p. 46:] Broadly speaking, there are three main types of ramblers, named according to their ancestors: R. sempervirens, R. multiflora, and R. wichuraiana. The oldest group, descendants of ... R. sempervirens, were raised around 1830. The Multiflora Ramblers appeared at the end of the nineteenth century... [The] Wichuraiana Ramblers were bred in the early part of this century [20th Century]... see Reference for names of breeders as well as particular roses...

[From Fifty Favourite Roses, by Michael Gibson, p. 22:] the peak period for the popularity of the rambler roses was the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth.

[ibid, p. 23:] If 'Blush Rambler' had arrived on the scene just one year earlier it would certainly have been extolled in Gertrude Jekyll's Roses for English Gardens, for ramblers and their uses were one of her passions and this became one of her favourites.

[From In Praise of Roses, by Harry Wheatcroft, p. 17:] Ramblers, typified by 'Dorothy Perkins' and the similar, scarlet 'Excelsa', usually have much less rigid stems than climbers, and bear only one crop of masses of small flowers each year...

[From Roses: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia..., by Peter Beales, p. 59:] Ramblers were undoubtedly the result of planned breeding by a few very worthy hybridists, most important of whom were Manda of America and Barbier of France.

[From The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, p. 226:] the main point of difference from the Multiflora ramblers [in addition to their glossy foliage, is the Wichuraiana ramblers tend to be less fragrant... R. wichuraiana itself is] extremely fragrant. Therefore it would seem that lack of fragrance must be the responsibility of the other parents

[Ibid, p. 238: R. wichuraiana crossed with a China or Tea Hybrid is] not so hardy as many of the multiflora types

[From Growing Old-Fashioned Roses, by Barbara Lea Taylor, p. 88:] The practical difference between climbers and ramblers is that climbers are bred to goupwards whereas ramblers can easily be trained up but, left to themselves, they will ramble in all directions and can therefore be used to cover banks, tree stumps, and so on.