It seems the SAME ROSE, originating from Sangerhausen in the 1970s (?) is grown around the world, At the very least, we know it is not the original tall, scentless tea ‘Francis Dubreuil 1894: It seems it is not the Kordes 1932 hybrid tea ‘Barcelona’ as is grown in Australia either.

Apparently the rose in the Huntington came from Peter Beales, in an unknown year, as ‘Francis Dubreuil’. (I note Beales 1992 reference for FD says “moderately fragrant”.) So the provanance of this ‘Francis Dubreuil’ seems to be: Sangerhausen-> Beales-> Edberg-> Huntington.

It is possibly the same as another rose at the Huntington under the name of ‘Barcelona’. Presuming this rose is exactly the same as the one above, I am sure there must have been records at the Huntington library on where and when this rose was acquired? Has there been any recent searches for the appropriate accession card? At the moment the provenance of this ‘Barcelona’ rose is: ?-> Huntington for decades.

It is of interest to look at the roses Wilhelm Kordes II was breeding around Barcelona’s date of 1932. Although there was one hybrid perpetual ‘Druschka’ bred from the scentless ‘Frau Karl Druschki’, most of his other roses around that time were hybrid teas. The 1932 reference for ‘Barcelona’ says ....very strong plant, almost straight, does not burn in sun.

Because others have thought that “Francis Dubreuil - in commerce as” may be hybrid perpetual with added china, it may be of value to look at Brent Dickerson’s classification guide to hybrid perpetuals in his identification section of The Old Rose Advisor 1992 page 292 - and share any findings. There are one or two particular traits to look for: low to medium height, strong fragrance, small to medium bloom, blooms burn in sun.