Book  (2008)  Page(s) 102.  
 
In 1768, a double form....R. virginiana plena appears (syn. R. x rapa = similar to a turnip, because of the elongated form of the calyx and of the hips)- This rose - a chance seedling - has perfectly beautiful buds, the pure pink blooms expand round as a circle. From July to August, this graceful, upright and dense shrub decorates itself with its dainty roses , and one understands why it ia also called 'Rose d'Amour'. Sometimes the name 'Rose d'Orsay' is used for R. virginiana 'Plena'. A roselover says that this is very similar to 'Rose d'Amour', but has "especially charming little buds, which seem as if rolled".

Book  (2007)  
 
p79. (post 1925). After an extended road trip exploring gardens thoughout the corners of England with Johnny Johnston and Reginald Cooper, and after spending endless days in their gardens at Hidcote.....

p112. Norah, often accompanied by her daughter Nancy, enjoyed a life of simple pleasures at Hidcote. "We have had an extremely enjoyable and cosy uneventful week here, leading the most comfortable existence with dear Johnny....

p196. Norah's grumbling ceased when Johnny Johnston arrived that week from Menton on his way to Hidcote. "He has plans for an expedition with the Warres to Tenerife and he is off in February or March to find all sorts of new plants - he will enrich his garden." ....At Christmas time Nancy Lindsay, returned home from Persia where she had been on a plant-hunting expedition sponsored by the British Museum. Johnny was equally "dying to see her and hear news of the Persian flora!.....She's really a marvel and brought back the most remarkable things and how she got them through the Russian and the German douanes is incomprehensible - and she is most interesting telling us of her work. Kew was thrilled and she spent all Tuesday with them and left them new various rarieties. She says Persia is a treasure house for plants - but the primitive discomforts ghastly. She travelled everywhere quite alone."

p225. In October [1939] Norah and Nancy packed all the china, books and knick-knacks in huge chests in the cellar and 'shut up' Sutton. Unable to afford to keep Sutton heated during the winter months and with little money for necessities, Norah and Nancy set off for Hidcote. Johnny had come back to Hidcote for a brief time and had invited Norah to join him before his return to Menton in November.

Magazine  (1997)  Page(s) 15. No. 14.  
 
Robin Lane Fox. Roses in Classical Times
On my poor Cotswold garden soil, I have probably killed more roses than I have satisfied. Among my successes, I value the two pink roses with Virginiana blood, 'Rose d'Amour' and Rose d'Orsay....

Book  (Sep 1996)  Page(s) 53.  
 
Rosa virginiana.......There are two double forms, probably hybrids - Rosa virginiana 'Plena' (R. 'Rose d'Amour'), also known as 'St. Mark's Rose', and a shorter-growing form of this variety called Rose d'Orsay.

Book  (Nov 1994)  Includes photo(s).
 
Drawing 5: Old Rose 'Rose d'Orsay', probably a hybrid of R. virginiana. Rich pink, fragrant; the flowering period extends into late summer.

p99. d'Orsay For many years I considered this rose to be synonymous with 'Rose d'Amour' and a pencil drawing of it was wrongly captioned under the latter name in the earlier editions of my book Shrub Roses of Today. There was, however, at Hidcote Manor, a moribund plant labelled 'd'Orsay' which when revived proved to be quite different from 'Rose d'Amour'. (The two are illustrated by pencil drawings in this book, Figures 5 and 6.) 'd'Orsay' is a compact shrub to 4 or 5 feet in height with smooth, somewhat leaden green leaves with pairs of prickles below each leaf, possibly indicating affinity with Rosas carolina. The name 'd'Orsay' came from Nancy Lindsay, but may well not be the original.

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 142.  
 
D'Orsay Rose Miscellaneous Old Garden Rose, deep pink, outer petals fading to pale pink, Thought to be R. carolina hybrid; Prior to 1850... often confused with 'Rose d'Amour'...

Book  (1987)  Page(s) 141.  
 
Dr. Charles Jeremias. Vice-President. ARS. Native Specie Roses of the U.S.A.
D'Orsay Rose date origin, parentage unknown, identified as being different from 'Rose d'Amour' by G. S. Thomas. Shorter (5 feet) and more branches than 'Rose d'Amour'. The other differences are the prickles; there are pairs of prickles just below each leaf which 'Rose d'Amour' doesn't have.

Website/Catalog  (1983)  Page(s) 39.  
 
Rose d’Orsay (Virginiana).  We have grown this rose erroneously as ‘Virginiana Plena’ for a number of years. It differs only slightly from the latter by being less vigorous and more inclined to sprawl if untethered. Of uncertain origin. H. Shade tolerant (R) 4 x 3‘.

Book  (1978)  Page(s) 226.  
 
We might hope for a flourishing race from R. virginiana, but it has not yet arrived.

'Rose d'Amour' Tall - Pink Late summer Perfume 3. Hips 2. One star recommendation.
This pink rose is semi-double, otherwise it is like R. virginiana, but not so similar as to pass as a variety; it is therefore presumed to be a hybrid, and an attractive one too. Nobody, I think, can be quite sure of disentangling the names involved here. 'Rose d'Amour' is a name going back at least to 1759, and another old name for it is 'St. Mark's Rose' . A similar rose, with narrower leaves and stipules, appeared under the name D'Orsay Rose; presumably in the nineteenth century, although nobody seems to know when. As being a double or at least a semi-double version of R. virginiana, 'Rose d' Amour' was for a long time sold as R. virginiana plena, until the authorities substituted the name R. x rapa. Graham Thomas confesses that for some years, until he noticed they were different and segregated them, he had 'D'Orsay Rose' and' Rose d' Amour' mixed under the name R. virginiana plena. I have an even graver confession: my own firm, alert to the new name, but indifferent to the hybrid symbol, was selling R. rapa until I pointed out that what we had was actually R. virginiana. Jean Gaujard of France put the cap on it all by introducing in 1936 a Hybrid Tea called' Rose d' Amour'. If we stir in the old botanical names of R. lucida and R. lucida plena, we have all the clues and little clarity. Rapa alludes to a small turnip, and describes the shape of the hips.

Book  (1977)  Page(s) 27.  
 
Graham Stuart Thomas. The 'Rose 'd'Amour' and the 'D'Orsay Rose', Hybrids of Rosa virginiana.
Years ago I grew the first of these two roses under the name of Rosa virginiana plena.Considerably later I was given the second. As young plants in the nursery they resembled each other so much that they became mixed and in my book Shrub Roses of Today, 1962, I stated that they were synonymous. Since then I have had more opportunity to compare them partly because an old plant at Hidcote, with increased attention and cultivation, started to flower again, and there is no doubt that the two plants are distinct. In my book, the pencil drawing facing page 49, entitled 'Rose d'Amour', is in reality the 'D'Orsay Rose'; this is here reproduced together with a drawing of the true 'Rose d'Amour' from blooms collected at Wisley, where it grows splendidly as a climber on the wall of the Aberconway hostel. Further, it is not such a great step from the quality and size of the blooms from Wisley to the painting in Vol. II of Redoute: Les Roses, plate 7; I think they are one and the same rose. Redoute calls it R. rapa; with the synonym Rosier Turneps; he places it in his group Rosae turbinatae, to which belong also the Frankfort roses (Rosa francofurtana 'Agatha' and the plant we grow as 'Empress Josephine') but these are not generally considered to be related to the American species R. virginiana.
All these roses have however one marked character, the very wide receptacle - or young hep - below the flowers; it widens for most of its length, suddenly narrowing slightly to where the lobes of the calyx grow from it, and for this reason is likened to a top or turnip, echoed again in rapum, the Latin for small turnip.
The 'D'Orsay Rose' and its name - which I have been unable to trace anywhere - came from the late Miss Nancy Lindsay and may well have been obtained from the plant at Hidcote. According to her this rose was a favourite with the Comte D'Orsay, a famous dandy of the first half of the 19th century: he liked it for a buttonhole. For this purpose a bud of it or of 'Rose d'Amour' are equally suited, being particularly shapely.
It will be seen from the two drawings that while the flowers of the two roses resemble each other, the foliage and stipules of the 'D'Orsay Rose' are much narrower than those of 'Rose d'Amour', though they both have broad bracts and both flower for a long time, usually after I July in our country. (In Venice 'Rose d'Amour' is apparently known as 'St Mark's Rose and Ellen Willmott in The Genus Rosa states that it is expected to flower on St Mark's Day, 25 April; further that it was introduced by Philip Miller in 1768. This last fact I have been unable to verify, but it is in the 1759 edition of his The Gardener's Dictionary.)
The 'D'Orsay Rose' - since we have no other name for it - is a fairly erect bush up to some 5 ft with rather light, somewhat leaden-green leaves. 'Rose d' Amour' makes very long shoots, has rich green leaves with marked red staining on the leafstalks and stipules and will ascend to 10 ft or so on a wall; it is lax growing, and bears considerable resemblance to R. virginiana, but is pretty certainly a hybrid. The 'D'Orsay Rose' has pairs of prickles just below each leaf, whereas 'Rose d'Amour' has mixed thorns and prickles indiscriminately disposed on strong shoots. The pairs of prickles and the shape of the leaves indicate possible affinity with R. carolina, another American species.