Narrative of an expedition to the source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, &c. Vol. 2 (1825)

Appendix
A Catalogue of Plants Collected in the North-Western Territory by Mr. Thomas Say, in the year 1823,
by Lewis D. de Schweinitz

p. 113
50. Rosa *Sayi, L. v. Schw.
This appears to me to be a Rose quite distinct from any American one, although it is past flowering; the germen being manifestly not globose, (which is the case with all the rest except laevigata,) nor do I find any European one sufficiently agreeing. I describe it thus:

Germen oblong ovate, perfectly smooth, and proportionably large, crowned by erect calyx leaves, exceeding it in length, which are villous, and expand at summit. Peduncle smooth, or somewhat glandularly hispid, rigid. Common petiole villous and aculeate on the back, with three pairs of ovate, sessile, deeply serrate, small leaflets, and a single one on the lengthened petiole, furnished at base with clasping, glandulosely villous stipules. Upper side of the leaflets smooth, the underside glaucously villous. The young branches thickly set with thin, unequal, hispid spines.

Papers Mich. Acad. Sci. Arts & Letters 5: 77-94 (1925)
Mackinac Wild Roses
Eileen Whitehead Erlanson

Rehder in establishing the name R. acicularis var. Sayi does not cite R. Sayi Schweinitz as a synonym. If he did, it would be technically justifiable to use Rehder's combination, even though it were impossible to place under it the round-hipped plants which he describes. It would likewise be in order to disregard the synonym which he does cite: R. acicularis var. Bourgeauiana. Since he does not cite Schweinitz's name, the only solution of the difficulty seems to be to make a new varietal name. Rehder's varietal name has to be interpreted by the description and by the synonymy he does give, rather than by the implied synonymy. It is here treated not as a synonym of R. Sayi Schwein., but rather of R. Bourgeauiana.