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'VIRlesch' rose Description
Photo courtesy of Girija and Viru
ARS:
White, near white or white blend Large-Flowered Climber. Registration name: VIRlesch Exhibition name: Leschenault de la Tour ™
Class:
Large-Flowered Climber, Species Cross.
Bloom:
White blend. None to mild fragrance. Average diameter 3.5". Medium, full (26-40 petals), in small clusters bloom form.
Habit:
Tall, climbing. Medium, semi-glossy, medium green foliage.
Height: up to 10' (up to 305cm).
Growing:
Can be used for garden, landscape or pillar. Can be trained as a climber. suitable for a pillar.
Breeder's notes:
Moderate number of small, greyish-black, curved, downward pointing prickles.
The upper reaches ( over 2000 metres altitude) of the Western Ghat Mountains of peninsular India are home to a very special rose species, belonging to the musk rose complex. This species was first discovered by a French naturalist, Leschenault de la Tour, who visited Pondicherry in India ( then under French influence) from 1816-1822 and, after getting permission from the East India Company in nearby Fort St George, Madras, to travel in regions under British influence, botanised in the mountains of the Western Ghats, in the Nilgiri Mountains and the adjoining Palni Hills. He sent specimens of this rose to the taxonomist and botanist Thory in France, who named this new species, Rosa leschenaultiana, to honor de la Tour . Redoute has drawn this rose in Les Roses.
We live in the Palni Hills, and we have seen this species in the wild, in our forests. We are growing a plant in our garden, and the first hybrid with it, a cross between Reve d’Or and R. leschenaultaina, proved to be a climber, with fully double, clear pristine white blooms.
We felt it but appropriate to name this seedling for the first discoverer of the species in the wild.
Patents:
Patent status unknown (to HelpMeFind).
Notes:
Perhaps the first hybrid of Rosa leschenaultiana.
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