Please do
not post photos of the rose in commerce as Parks' Yellow Tea-Scented on this page; instead, post them to the page of the
Parks' Yellow Tea-Scented China (in commerce as).According to Mr. George Gordon (1806-1879), Superintendent of the Gardens of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick near London, 'Rosa indica ochroleuca' was extinct before 1842. The Tea-scented Yellow China which was widely distributed was 'Rosa indica flavescens', a seedling of Hume's Blush.
The rose in commerce as
Parks' Yellow Tea-scented Rose is almost surely
not the original. It is likely that the original was lost over 100 years ago. The pale sulfur yellow original was a small shrub that rebloomed, set hips, and had only moderate Tea scent. See descriptions in
References. The rose presently in commerce under this name, put in commerce by Peter Beales, is creamy white, once-blooming, strongly Tea-scented and does not set hips.
A new study from 2011 assigns the Name
Rosa odorata var.
pseudindica to 'Park's Yellow Tea.scented China', based on the original description by Lindley in 1820, i.e prior to the importation by John Parks and Robert Fortune, resp.. The description by Rehder in 1915 does not correlate with the "deep yellow" colour stated by Lindley.
