History of the Rose - Page 90 (1954)
Roy E. Shepherd
This beautiful pillar rose, introduced in 1918, was created by W. Paul by crossing R. bracteata with an unknown yellow Tea Rose. Mermaid is not dependably hardy in the North, but the freedom with which it produces its large, single, pale sulphur-yellow flowers and the attractive foliage make it a very desirable rose and worthy of any protection it may require in the colder parts of our country. With its many desirable attributes, including fertility, it seems strange that there are but few progeny of Mermaid worthy of mention, and these are much inferior to the parent. SEA FOAM (Paul, 1919) bears small, double, white flowers and partakes more of its Polyantha parent than it does of Mermaid. LEIPSIG (Kordes, 1939) is the result of crossing Eva with Mermaid, but the influence of the latter is again very slight. Apparently the characters of Mermaid are suppressed by those of the variety with which it is crossed, as Leipsig is a 3- to 4-foot shrub rose that bears semidouble, orange-scarlet blossoms in clusters and is recurrent in its bloom.