Believed extinct or lost

6 favorite votes.  

Bred by Samuel and John Feast (United States, circa 1829).

Micro-Miniature.  

Small, double (17-25 petals) bloom form.  Spring or summer flush with scattered later bloom.  

Height: 2" (5cm).  Width: 1.5" (4cm).

From Fred Boutin: Raised from seed planted about 1829-30 by Samuel Feast of Baltimore. It flowered with very double flowers about 1832-33. In 1837, when it was seven or eight years old, it reportedly flowered regularly every year with buckshot or pinhead sized flowers, and the plant was smaller than two inches high and one and a half inches in diameter. It got notice because of the description that the whole plant could be covered by half of a hen's eggshell without touching the shell. Feast reported that all attempts to propagate it failed. That means that it was never truly introduced. It remained the single plant in Feast's nursery stirring the imaginations of rose fanciers. By 1839 Feast had lost the plant.
Extracted from The magazine of horticulture, botany, and all useful discoveries and improvements in rural affairs, Vol 3, 1837, pp 129-130, correspondence by An Amateur, Baltimore (Gedeon B. Smith, Esq.) and Vol.5, 1839. "A visit to Feast's nursery in Baltimore."

Master Burke: child prodigy actor and violinist. Joseph Burke (1818-1902) Actor and musician. Came to the USA from Ireland in 1830 and was a sensation in the theater and concert halls.