Trying to nail down the parentage of roses is a lifelong chore, even for the taxonomists. With the possibility that DNA may solve many of the problems, I wonder if that process will not introduce its own mysteries. In the following essay I illustrate the difficulties in working with the literature up to this time, but thought it might illustrate to the unwary the prickly path one has to follow.

Confusion has reigned ever since the species Rosa laevigata was designated as 'Cherokee Rose' because it was thought to be indigenous to the southern part of the United States. Books and articles today repeat the mistake. That simply was never true – it is found naturally in mainland China and in Taiwan as well as in Vietnam. Only recent research has destroyed the myth that the state flower of Georgia is native to that state.

As it is true of many species, the rose has surfaced under other names as well: R. amygdalifolia, R. argyi, R.hystrix, R.cucumerin, R. sinica, R. ternata, 'Blanc de Neige' (Snow White Rose). Redoute called it Rosa nivea, and in France it is known as the Camellia Rose.

It was first described by Plukenet in 1705 as R.alba cheusanevsis foliorum marginbies et rachi media spinosis.

It is an evergreen climber with persistent dark leaves (brilliant to my way of description) producing single (five petals) white flowers. The blossoms offer a clove-like fragrance. In China it is found in open montane areas, open fields, farmland, thickets. It is an excellent garden plant where there is room for it to climb, although I have seen in trained on fences in California and in the south of England. It does well in temperate and warm climates, but with protection it can easily survive at lower temperatures. I should think it would be a good ground cover on hillsides.

The pear-shaped hips (some are oval) are quite bristly, turning from orange to brown. They have many medicinal uses as they are rich in Vitamin C, and the Chinese use them especially to treat chronic dysentery. The flavor of the hips is astringent and sour. I discovered that it is best to remove the seed hairs before trying to eat them.The seed takes up to two years to germinate.

The flowers are large with 'glowing yellow anthers' in the words of Ellen Willmott. The green stems have hooked prickles.

Before discussing other members of this family, I should first like to go back to Georgia, where, on August 18, 1916, the General Assembly voted to adopt the following resolution: 'Whereas, The Cherokee Rose, having its origin among the aborigines of the northern portion of the State of Georgia, is indigenous to its soil, and grows with equal luxuriance in every county of the State….' I believe that is the only racist tag put on a rose in history, and the Cherokee tribe had no way of complaining about their inclusion in the motion.

In addition, other myths have grown up around the rose. The legend of an Indian princess over whose grave a white rose flowered is but one. Another tells of the rose having seven petals instead of five. And some references to an American species, R. setigera, state that it is the real Cherokee rose. Although not as well known, and another native of China, R. bracteata, has been called the Chickasaw Rose, named after a tribe that thrived years ago in the southeastern part of the U.S. I have been unable to trace any more on this story.

When one consults past writers and nurserymen on the hybrids of this species, there is confusion everywhere. So I shall start with the ones that everyone appears to agree are true hybrids.

'Anemone' is still a popular garden rose. On investigating its origins, I think anyone would quickly discover that it has left a trail of clues that no detective would find easy to understand. J.C. Schmidt of Erfurt, Germany, is given credit most of the time for the original release of this to the trade. However, a search of French horticultural literature has revealed that it was raised originally by L. Wiesener, who reported having obtained seeds from E.Breitschneider, who in turn collected them in the mountains north of Peking, China, where he was serving as Russian Embassy physician. Wiesener planted them in 1884, and the one surviving plant flowered for the first time in 1889. Although Schmidt introduced it in 1896, Wiesener is clearly its originator. RAPD analysis supports the conjecture that this rose is a hybrid of R. laevigata.

'Anemone' has five petals of medium pink with light streaking. The flowers do not last long on my climber, and the season is relatively short. The hooked prickles never fail to grab me when I am close to the plant. I followed Peter Beales' comment that it does reasonably well in the shade, and it does, though its growth is slow. It is available in nurseries around the world.

'Ramona' was introduced in 1913 by the firm of Dietrich and Turner of Montebello, California. It has always been assumed that it is a sport of 'Anemone' though I am nervous when I have to write without more than hearsay evidence. It is always one of the first to bloom in my garden, with its lovely dark pink almost red petals, with a reverse a bit whitish. It is also covered with dangerous prickles. Its nickname is 'Red Cherokee'.

It was named for the title heroine of the 1884 novel by Helen Hunt Jackson, who published her novel at the time when American Indians were subject to marginalization and prejudice. It caused an uproar, and D.W.Griffith made the first film based on the book in 1910 with Mary Pickford as the star. In 1928 it was again filmed with the famous Mexican actress Dolores del Rio. The film I remember clearly was released in 1936, an early Technicolor production, with Loretta Young in the title role. A song appeared in 1927 and became quite popular before WWII. Each year since 1923 the story is dramatized on a simple stage in Hemet, close to the scenes of the book.

From this point on there is general disagreement on some of the other candidates as laevigata hybrids. I bought a plant from Peter Beales called 'Cooper's Burmese' years ago which was listed as a hybrid; later he changed it to "seedling?" with the question mark.

In his recent book on climbing roses, Charles Quest-Ritson lists it as a definite cultivar. Roland Cooper, while collecting in Bhutan in 1914 and again in 1915, found it; it is probable that he brought back plants when he returned to Edinburgh, where he became the curator of the Royal Botanic Garden.

Its prickles are unusually grouped in fours, generally close together, so that the stem has four horrid curved prickles spaced 90 degrees apart, all in close proximity. The flower is bigger than any others in this group but looks very much a kin otherwise. Naturally, where the weather is right, it can climb great heights. There is a dramatic plant at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, climbing the side of a building.

My friend Fred Boutin thinks it is a separate species or a subspecies of R.laevigata, and discounts it as a cross between the latter and R. gigantea, though its vigor has probably accounted for that theory. It is a huge plant when mature. The one I saw in New Zealand at Lloyd Chapman's nursery is 15 metres on a fence.

Another candidate is 'Silver Moon' created by Dr. Walter Van Fleet of Maryland, U.S.A. in 1910. Five authorities put it in the laevigata group, but in different ways. August Jäger, the German archivist, says the cross was R. wichurana and R. laevigata, which is the same as Brent Dickerson's. Peter Beales believes it is a laevigata hybrid; and Jack Harkness believes that Van Fleet used one of his own hybrids of that species in the cross. Boutin thinks it is a separate species or a subspecies.

In any case, it is a fascinating rose, excellent in mild and warm climates. One sees it all over California; at a ranch near my home one stretches along a 200 yard fence.

The semi-double flowers are pure white, opening to show a beautiful center of stamens.

The last candidate is 'Fortuniana' also known as 'Fortuneana', R. x fortuniana, 'Double Cherokee', 'Epineux de la Chine', 'La Chinoise'. In a recent article in this magazine I discussed the members of the Banksia family and its hybrids. There I stated baldly that it was a laevigata cross. In Modern Roses XI it states that it is 'Supposedly R. banksiae x R. laevigata'. Jack Harkness, one whom I usually trust completely, says, 'discovered in a Chinese garden about 1850 by Robert Fortune, this is thought to be a natural hybrid between a Banksian rose and R. laevigata.' While Harkness has little regard for it, Quest-Ritson calls it 'incomparable' and discounts the banksia-laevigata connection. Louis Van Houtte states there is no laevigata in it whatsoever. It is used as understock in areas such as Florida and Western Australia.

The blooms are pure white, slightly ruffled with a green cast to the petals in the shade. The small blossoms occur singly or in clusters. Used as a ground cover, which my neighbor does, it produces a carpet of white and green in early spring here in California. The leaves are identical to any of the banksias, and attractive all year.

There are a few other possibilities, but I thought it wise to stop here.