Newsletter  (Aug 2021)  Page(s) 8.  Includes photo(s).
 
One lot of seeds was from a “wild” rose found on China’s western frontier near Tibet. A resulting seedling bloomed for the first time in 1907 and was named Rosa willmottiae. ..... R. willmottiae is still in commerce. The smallish single flowers range from rose-purple to lilac-pink. Growing to roughly six to eight feet in height and width with an arching habit, the petite foliage is an attractive gray-green.

Article (newsletter)  (Nov 2017)  Page(s) 16.  Includes photo(s).
 
R. willmottiae flourishes in the drier riparian areas of western Sichuan; however, it has also been found in Yunnan province. A tall, somewhat spindly yet elegant bush with stiletto-like prickles, its springtime dress is of flowers in lilac-pink or mauve, mostly solitary, pinned along the sleeves of branches. The stamens display a cream color. The prickles when young are reddish, when mature the color of straw. Smooth, ovoid hips late in the year decorate the plant in orangish red. The species seems to prefer stream sides and river banks. Its various traits bear a strong likeness to the American R. gymnocarpa. Wilson, who introduced it in 1904 and again in 1910, thought it “a very pleasing plant” and named it for horticulturist Ellen Willmott who helped finance one of his expeditions.

Article (magazine)  (2007)  Page(s) 370, fig. 1.  
 
R. willmottiae typical ploidy 2x

Article (magazine)  (2001)  Page(s) 393.  
 
R. willmottiae Hemsl. Ploidy 2x
Pollen fertility 93.2%
Selfed Fruit set 0%

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 441.  
 
Plant Introductions in the period 1900-2000
1904 Rosa willmottae W. China.

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 437.  
 
Miss Willmott herself owned Warley Place in Essex - once the home of John Evelyn; she was a skilled gardener and was a patron in paricular of E. H. Wilson. Consequently, there are a number of plants with the epithet willmottae, for instance Rosa willmottae, which Wilson had collected from western China in 1904. Her special love was roses, and she wrote the two-volume The Genus Rosa between 1910 and 1914.

Book  (2000)  Page(s) 60.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (2000)  Page(s) 61.  
 
Rosa willmottiae = Rosier botanique – mauve. Plus large que haut, ce rosier s’élève à 3m en bon sol. Il produit de longues pousses minces, rouge pourpré, souvant pruinées de gris et armées de fines acicules et d’aiguillons pointus. Ses feuilles comptent de 3 à 9 folioles ovales, gris-vert, très dentées. Ses fleurs, rose pourpré, légèrement odorantes, éclosent tout le long des branches durant plusieurs semaines au début de l’été, suivies de petits fruits rouge orangé en forme de poire. Gracieux en toute saison, ce grand arbuste au fin feuillage mérite une place au jardin. Zones 3-11. Chine, 1904.

Book  (1997)  Page(s) 239.  Includes photo(s).

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 77.  Includes photo(s).
 
[Listed under "Wild Roses and Their Cultivars"] Like a pink version of 'Canary Bird' with small rounded leaflets and elongated hips… Named after Ellen Willmott, a great Edwardian gardener and author of The Genus Rosa (1914). Flowers in early summer. Width: 7 ft. Slightly scented.