(1975)  Page(s) 26.  
 
Canary Bird...is, I fear, typical of the difficulties which can beset the experts and indeed writers about roses. It is generally accepted tht it is a hybrid. But what of? Here are a few extracts:
Probably R. hugonis x R. xanthina.
A hybrid, perhaps R. hugonis x xanthina or spinosissima.
The parent of this hybrid are almost certainly R. hugonis x R. xanthina.
...probably derived from R. xanthina sponteanea.
Both this and doubt form R. slingeri (R. xanthina).
R. xanthina sponteanea....sometimes known as 'Canary Bird Rose'.
xanthina....unlike 'Canary Bird' which is somethings called R. xanthina sponteanea.
xanthina sponteanea ...having been overshadowed by 'Canary Bird'.

....Without doubt it is one of the most popular wild shrub roses-it is stocked by well over twenty nurserymen-and comes from northern China and Korea. In size 6ft x 6ft, it give largish flowers of its name colour on and along rich brown stems, which also carry bright green leaves, small and fern-like. It is said to be subject to 'die back;, which I have not experiences, and to do better on well-drained soils. When it produces heps (I had one in 1973), they are blackish. I have had flowers as early as 24 April, but the first week in May is when it is usually at its best.

(1975)  Page(s) 98.  
 
Commandant Beaurepaire, 1874, which produces only a few flowers after a spectacular first flush. The flowers are round, cupped, incurved and fairly full. On a background of light carmine-pink are striped and splashed rose-madder, carmine, purple and inside, an occasional slash of blazing scarlet. They are very fragrant, too. The leaves are a curious light yellow-wish green, long-pointed and of undulating formation. Also known as Panachée d'Angers, its dimensions are 5 ft x 5ft and altogether it makes an elegant and effective garden rose. I like to think that this name refers to Nicolas-Joseph, a French officer, defending Verdun against the Prussians who killed himself rather than face the surrender of that fortress. It is said to have a sport in:...Honorine de Brabant...

(1975)  Page(s) 25-26.  Includes photo(s).
 
R. ecae....comes from Afganistan and was brought to the UK in 1880 by Dr J.E.T. Aitchison who served as an army surgeon in the Afghan war of that time. He named it after his wife's initials E.C.A., and has made rose writers made very since by not revealing what the 'E.C.' stands for. Until 1940 it was sold in America as R. primula. Personally, I think its interest lies from Golden Chersonese, first available in 1970 and produced by E.F. Allen - an outstanding scientific expert on, and an amateur grower of roses - in conjunction with Canary Bird. As the illustration on page 104 shows, it is smothered with deep buttercup-yellow blooms. They come with a sweet fragrance in late May and early June and are supported by plentiful small matt (sic) foliage on, as might be expected, reddish arching branches.

(1975)  Page(s) 29.  
 
[In "The Hybrids of the Burnet Roses"]: harisonii: R. foetida harisonii, 'Harison's Yellow'; R. lutea hoggii, 'Hogg's Double Yellow Briar'. These 'other names' show the confusion which exists as to who raised the rose...., but they conceal the confusion as to whether or not this rose is the same as 'Williams' Double Yellow' and about which Shepherd's History of the Rose devotes some 1,200 words. Bunyard says the 'Harrisonii' [sic] is sometimes confused with the 'Persian Yellow' 9R. foetida persiana)....I follow Graham Thomas, who regard those green carpels of 'Williams' Double Yellow' as conclusive against the yellow stamens of R. harisonii and accordingly accepts the latter as a different variety....

(1975)  Page(s) 98.  
 
Commandant Beaurepaire...is said to have a sport in....Honorine de Brabant which is equally effective, if not more so, as it is seldom out of flower. It is larger and perhaps coarser: it is certainly lusty, 8 ft x 9 ft, with much large leathery foliage, mid green in colour. The blooms are very pale lilac-pink, striped and spotted with darker tones, which vary from mauve to violet. The later flowers are particularly good. She and the Commandant are deservedly popular.

(1975)  Page(s) 25.  
 
R. ecae....comes from Afganistan and was brought to the UK in 1880 by Dr J.E.T. Aitchison who served as an army surgeon in the Afghan war of that time. He names it after his wife's initials E.C.A., and has made rose writers made very since by not revealing what the 'E.C.' stands for. Until 1940 it was sold in America as R. primula. Personally, I think its interest lies from Golden Chersonese, first available in 1970 and produced by E.F. Allen - an outstanding scientific expert on, and an amateur grower of roses - in conjunction with Canary Bird.

(1975)  Page(s) 25.  
 
R. ecae....comes from Afganistan and was brought to the UK in 1880 by Dr J.E.T. Aitchison who served as an army surgeon in the Afghan war of that time. He names it after his wife's initials E.C.A., and has made rose writers made very since by not revealing what the 'E.C.' stands for. Until 1940 it was sold in America as R. primula.

(1975)  Page(s) 27.  
 
R. primula, the so-called 'Tien Shan Rose' in the USA and the 'Incense Rose' in Britain, comes from Turkestan and northern China. From 1891 to 1936 it was, according to Shepherd, confused with R. ecae. It was introduced into Europe in 1910 where it was also known as the Incense Rose' because of the rich aroma from the young reddish-brown foliage which is particularly noticeable on damp days (and when crushed). The leaves may have as many as fifteen leaflets and the flowers, opening usually in mid May, are very much like those of the primrose but fade to white as they grow older. Small reddish heps follow: they are not very conspicuous.

(1975)  Page(s) 29.  
 
Williams' Double Yellow sometimes called 'Double Yellow' or R. spinosissima lutea plena or 'Old Double Yellow Scots Rose' or (in the Western Highlands) 'Prince Charlie's Rose'...apparently from a cross with R. foetida, whose fragrance it reproduces in its 'loosely double, bright yellow flowers', which 'have a bunch of green carpels in the centre'. A blemish is that the blooms die badly, in that the petals stay on the plant for too long after the flower is dead. It has the other characteristics of the Burnet, but grows to about 4 ft.