In 1807 Robert Kerr collected from the vicinity of Can¬ 
ton, China a Rose which he introduced to Kew. A dried 
specimen of this Rose had been in Banks’ herbarium. 
Robert Brown classified this Rose and named it for Lady 
Banke—this was the double, whit,e fragrant variety so 
much grown in our Southern States. 
Other China Roses introduced around this period were 
Rosa microphylla, the Small Leaved China Rose, and R. 
multiflora, found in Japan and introduced by Thomas Evans 
of the East India House in 1804. 
Napoleon’s Josephine was responsible for a great impetus 
to Rose growing, and although abut 200 years ago there 
were only 46 kinds in existence, by 1820 there were 2,562 
varieties. The garden that the Empress established at 
Malmaison, France is still intact and is one of the famous 
Rose gardens of the world. It is called Roseraie de l’Hay. 
Because of the great interest in Roses at that time, a 
great deal of hybridization took place. The Musk Rose 
was crossed with Rosa indica, which gave rise to the 
everblooming Noisette Roses for warm climates. The Da¬ 
mask Rose was then crossed with Rosa indica, which gave 
the Bourbon Roses, which in turn produced our present 
day Hybrid Perpetuals. In the beginning, these Roses 
were thought to be everblooming, and thus came the term 
Hybrid Perpetual. 
In 1867 came the first Hybrid Tea. called La France. 
The next big event in Rose history occurred when Mons. 
Pemet Ducher originated, by hybridizing with the Aust¬ 
rian yellow Rose, a new strain of Roses with yellowish 
color, of which Souv. de Claudius Pernet is the most pop¬ 
ular representative. Now there are thousands of monthly 
blooming Hybrid Tea Roses, with 17,000 varieties in the 
world today. Only a small percentage of the total number 
is presented in this booklet for your gardens of today. 
4 
