Magazine  (Dec 2021)  Page(s) 32. Vol 43, No. 4.  
 
Lynne Chapman and Billy West.  A Close Look at Tea Roses.
Impostors incorrectly called Tea roses. A vigorous climber masquerading as a Tea rose is “Sombreuil”. That this is not a Tea has been known for many years but how long does it take to get a message across? When the Australian rosarian David Ruston conducted a plebiscite in 2009 to find the world’s top ten Tea roses, what came in at No. 6? This rose; superb but not a Tea! The original Tea, Sombreuil, or Mlle de Sombreuil, 1851, is a shrub that can make a fine pillar rose but it is not a climber.

Newsletter  (Feb 2015)  Page(s) 9-10.  Includes photo(s).
 
[From "Tales of White Roses", by Jeri Jennings, pp. 6-10]
Among those, we believe, is the rose we called “George Washington Richardson” for the early California farmer whose Esparto grave it guards. We stumbled on this place by accident, in mid-April, 2007, while seeking a completely different cemetery. We found a glory of early-to-mid-20th-century roses, along with a few truly impressive Chinas. The Richardson family rose is far to the back of the cemetery, where it stands out among its multicolored neighbors. Like “Jesse Hildreth” in San Juan Bautista, “Legacy Of The Richardson Family” stands in some jeopardy....Having observed it now, over a period of six years, in the spring, latesummer, and late fall, we know that it repeats unfailingly and rapidly. It does not rust. It does not mildew. It opens in all sorts of weather. And it is fragrant. Growing it in a pot here (it goes into the ground this spring – honest!) we find that it is tolerant of pinched conditions. Some who have grown it feel that “George Washington Richardson” is very likely a climber. It may also simply be a large, gracefully arching shrub. I personally THINK it is likely to be an early Hybrid Tea Rose

Newsletter  (Apr 2014)  Page(s) 19. No. 11.  
 
John Hook. France. What Is The Next Step?
We have in our collection 'Mlle de Sombreuil' from Sangerhausen, L’Hay and Tête d’Or. All are different.

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 66.  
 
'Mlle de Sombreuil' ["La Biche"]. Tea. Good reliable rebloom. Outstanding fragrance. Habit 3. Robert 1851. [Provenance: Robinson found]. A large white Bourbon-Tea, similar to such refined Bourbons as 'Mistress Bosanquet' with many petals in a loose domed flower, sweetly scented. Originally identified at the Huntington Gardens as "La Biche", this is clearly not a tall, clustering Noisette. It bears great resemblance to descriptions of the original 'Sombreuil', to the portrait in Le Livre d'Or Roses by Hariot (1903) and is the same rose we saw labeled 'Mlle de Sombreuil' at the Roseraie de l'Hay' in Paris.

Book  (1999)  Page(s) 51.  
 
La Biche.  Trouillet, France 1832.  Noisette.  Pink/White.  (Available from) Gretchen, Honeysuckle.

Website/Catalog  (1996)  Page(s) 21.  
 
'La Biche'. Noisette. A Noisette from the nineteenth century that can truly be identified by its remarkable very sweet fragrance alone. It is one of the most penetratingly pure delicious rose fragrances we have encountered. The quite large flowers in clusters, each shaped as E. E. Keays noted like the cap of an acorn, are the palest pink shading down to fawn in the centre. It was given to us by a family in the Kurrajong district who have passed it down for several generations, taking it with them each time a house move occurred. The identification fits early descriptions and the incredible perfume was considered its hallmark.

Book  (Nov 1994)  Page(s) Page(s) 161..  
 
Mlle. (or Mme.) de Sombreuil, Climbing The bush form, raised in 1850 and introduced by Robert, was a hybrid of 'Gigantesque'... Description... creamy white with flesh tint in the centre...

Book  (1991)  Page(s) 218.  
 
Mlle de Sombreuil ('Mme de Sombreuil', 'Sombreuil') Robert, 1851. Tea. Parentage: Reputed to be a seedling of 'Parks' Yellow. Also has been associated with 'Adam'. [Author cites information from different sources... An interesting entry from the Journal des Roses: This rose is dedicated to Mlle de Sombreuil, the heroine who, during the Terror, locked herself up with her father, the Count Sombreuil, governor of Les Invalides, prisoner of the Abbaye, in Paris, and who stopped the September assassins' arms by her supplication; and, according to legend, who drank a glass of human blood, a glass which she then offered to the assailants!]

Magazine  (1986)  
 
Heritage Roses in Australia - 2nd International Conference, Adelaide - proceedings.
p28-1. Dr. Judyth McLeod’s address ‘Noisettes, the French Darlings’: One of my latest finds has been La Biche. Ever since I read Ethelyn Keays’ book a year ago, on old roses, I have yearned, nay lusted, for La Biche. Anyone from warmer climes is, of course, bound to be enraptured by her tantalising description of the old Tea and Noisette roses. And almost wholly missing from European books, and it was a pleasure to have found it in the United States’ book. La Biche was diffidently handed to me by a lady a few months ago whose family were first fleeters. It has been passed on from family garden to family garden for well over a century. She expected instant recognition, everyone seems to, and you can’t do it, and it was only a few minutes after she left that all the clues suddenly fell into place, and I realised what I had in my hand. I’ve been promised bud wood for November and soon I hope we will have it in our gardens.

Article (misc)  (1985)  Page(s) 12.  
 
 La Biche.  Noisette;  Paul, 1848:   “Flowers white, their center flesh, very large and very double;  form, cupped.  Growth, vigorous.  A fine Pillar-Rose.”  Phil Edinger:  “This must be the somewhat Devoniensis-like tinted white from the Pioneer Cemetery in Salem, OR.    It sure isn’t a climbing tea-noisette, as La Biche should be.   It turned up in Santa Rosa,  and Fred (Boutin) also found it in his area.    Fred came up with a possible ID that I’d buy easily, based on 19th-century illustrations:  Mme. Mélanie Willermoz!    Check the plate in Curtis’ Beauties of the Rose”.   [MR8:  “Mme. Mélanie Willermoz.  Tea.  (Lacharme, 1849.)    Fragrant, white tinted pink.”]    Source: unknown.  Bed 23.