Book  (1988)  Page(s) 108-109.  Includes photo(s).
 
Macrantha This spreading, vigorous shrub has arching, thorny stems on which the sweetly scented flowers are borne in clusters. The blooms open a pale pink, fading to white, as in this photograph. Height up to 3 m. The origins of R. 'Macrantha' are obscure, but it is thought to be a seedling of a garden hybrid descended from R. gallica, or possibly R. gallica x R. alba.

Book  (1987)  Page(s) 217.  
 
R. macrantha, a natural hybrid between the low-growing R. gallica and the 'Dog Rose', R. canina, was discovered in a French Garden in 1823. This is one of the really fine shrub roses, and our only regret is that we have not sufficient space to do it full justice. It has grown vigorously since its arrival from England. We notived this shrub particularly in gardens on the Continent and in the British Isles: and have a photograph taken at the Villa Taranto, in Northern Italy, of the most impressive specimen of R. macrantha we saw anywhere. The tall bush was smothered with large, single, peach-pink flowers....At Newby Hall in Yorkshire, at Highdown in Sussex, and in many other gardens and parks, R. macrantha was both a distinguished looking shrub and a decorative garden plant.

Book  (1983)  Page(s) 30.  Includes photo(s).
 
Macrantha (1823). Large single pink blossoms, deliciously fragrant. Low spreading habit. Fruit are round and red. Ideal for groundcover and for covering tree stumps and banks.

Website/Catalog  (1982)  Page(s) 33.  
 
Rosa macrantha  A trailing, ground cover shrub with small, single flowers of rich pink. Obscure origin. G. Shade tolerant. (S) 4 x 6’.

Book  (1981)  Page(s) 256.  
 
R. x waitziana Tratt. (=R. canina x R. gallica). Shrub about 2 m./6.6 ft. high, prickles scattered, unequal and mostly curved; leaves rather firm, mostly simply serrate, bald or puberulent on midrib beneath; flowers solitary, 6-8 cm./2.4-3.2 in. across, mostly deep pink, sepals glandular on back; styles slightly elongated, puberulent; fruits usually dropping before maturity. C. Europe, woodland borders. 1874.

Book  (1981)  Page(s) 256.  
 
R. x macrantha Desp. (=R. gallica x ?; certainly not R. canina as cytological analysis has shown). Shrub 1-1.5 m/3-3.5 Ft. high, stems green, arching, prickles scattered, curved, at first mixed with some bristles; leaflets 5-7, ovate, 3 cm./1.2 in. long, simply to doubly serrate, at least puberulent beneath; penduncles glandular hairy; several flowers together, first light pink, later nearly white, 7 cm./2.8 in. across, very fragrant, single to semi-double, June; calyx, sepals and pedicels glandular, sepals dropping; fruits globose, dull red, to 1.5 cm./0.6 in. across. WR 134. (=R. waitziana var. macrantha (Desp.) Rehd.) Originated in France during the 18th century.

Book  (1981)  Page(s) 109-110.  
 
R. 'Macrantha' [Note: cultivar notation, not species notation] R. macrantha Hort, not Desportes; R. waitziana var. macrantha Rehd., in part [includes long description of the rose, including where it is illustrated, e.g. Willmott, Genus Rosa; large, spreading shrub, sparse prickles, 3-5 leaflets, single pink flowers about 3 inches wide, red hips with persistent sepals]
'Macrantha' shows the influence of R. gallica and could be a seedling of some garden hybrid with that species in its make-up. Canon Ellacombe was growing it ... by 1888, and thirteen years later is was figured in Revue Horticole... with a description ... by Mottet, on which the account in Willmott's The Genus Rosa, is largely based. Mottet assumed, like most later authors, that this rose was R. macrantha Desportes (for which see below), though in fact it is very different....R. 'Macrantha' (of gardens) is one of the most beautiful of single roses. Being of lax habit it needs support if to be grown upright, but makes a useful ground-cover, especially on banks.
R. macrantha Desportes [Note: this is one of two purported species roses named Rosa macrantha]. R. canina var. grandiflora Thory in Redouté Les Roses, Vol. III, p. 75, t.;  R. canina fulgens Lemeunier ex Thory; R. macrantha var. lemeunieri Franch. - This rose, at least according to the received version, was found by the French rosarian Lemeunier growing in a hedge near La Flèchein the department of Sarthe. He sent a plant (probably by propagation) to the Luxembourg garden, where it flowered in 1822. It was portrayed by Redouté in the same year under the name R. canina var. Grandiflora Thory, and given specific rank by Desportes in 1838... Desportes' own description, although agreeing with Thory's, was based partly on a specimen identified as 'Avessé, Martigné, (Goupil).' The explanation appears to be that this specimen came from the garden of Lemeunier's friend and fellow rosarian Goupil, of the Chateau de Martigné, Avessé, and was one of the former's propagations from the original plant (Gentil, Roses indigènes de Sarthe (1897) pp.66-75). In this work Gentil voices the suspicion that the La Flèche plant was not in fact spontaneous but actually raised by Lemeunier himself, and accuses him and Desportes of inflating the flora of Sarthe with garden plants. Lemeunier is known to have raised roses from seed.... In the Kew Herbarium there is a specimen of R. canina grandiflora Thory collected in the Luxembourg garden in 1829. From this and from the original description and portrait, it is plain that this rose and the 'Macrantha' of gardens are not the same. The true R. macrantha of Desportes shows no obvious influence of R. gallica, having strong, uniform hooked prickles. The leaves have the rachis hairy beneath; leaflets five or seven, with whitish undersides; sepals with long expanded tips. and flowers of a vivid rose. The buds, according to Thory, were covered before expansion with a glaucous bloom, which can also be seen on the herbarium specimen.
Subsequently, Desportes himself found a rose near La Fléche which he identified as R. macrantha and still another, also referred to as R. macrantha, was found near the neighbouring town of Angers and transported to the Botanic Garden there. Specimens from these roses were distributed to various herbaria as R. macrantha and are probably responsible for the belief that R. macrantha is a hybrid between R. gallica and R. canina, since, unlike the true R. macrantha [Desportes], they showed the influence of both species in their armature. It is tempting to suppose that the 'Macrantha' of gardens descends from the Angers plant, which might have been propagated and distributed by one of the many local nurseries. But Boreau, the Director of the garden, gives a description of the Angers plant in his Flore du Centre de la France...and further details are provided by Crépin ...(Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg., Vol 8 (1869), p. 285) [Note: R. macrantha Boreau is this version of R. macrantha.]. From these it is evident that the 'Macrantha' of gardens is an altogether different plant, whose origin remains obscure.

Book  (1976)  Page(s) 82.  
 
R. x waitziana macrantha (Desportes) Rehd. (R. macrantha Desportes, R. gallica macrantha hort. ex Rehd) natural garden hybrid (R. gallica x ?). Since 1825.

Book  (1947)  Page(s) 183.  
 
Macrantha (large-flowered) (S.), W. Europe, is reputed to be a hybrid between R. gallica x R. canina, and makes a very large specimen bush with long whiplike canes and bright green leaves made up of from five to seven leaflets, which bears many very pale pink, rose-flushed, large single flowers of four inches in diameter, followed by bright red fruits. 
Desportes -. Decideous. Exceptionally tall growth. Very fragrant...May-June. Very hardy.

Website/Catalog  (1942)  Page(s) 24.  
 
Species Roses
R. Macrantha—One of the loveliest of the species, a trailing rose with soft pink blooms which change to pearly white in the sun, or keep their clear hues in partial shade... $1.00