Commercially available

• "Grand Avenue Giant"
• Le Vésuve
• Lemesle
• "Vintage Towers Tea"

64 favorite votes.  
Average rating: EXCELLENT.  

Pink blend China.
Registration name: Le Vésuve (china, Laffay, 1825)
Exhibition name: Le Vésuve (china, Laffay, 1825)

Bred by Jean Laffay (France, 1825). Bred by Louis Claude Noisette (France, 1825).

Found Rose, China / Bengale, Hybrid Bourbon, Tea.  

Pink, carmine-pink reverse, silver(y) edges, red veining, ages to red .  Bright Rose.  Tea fragrance.  Medium to large, full (26-40 petals), borne mostly solitary, cluster-flowered, in small clusters, cupped, expanded bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.  

Armed with thorns / prickles, well-branched.  Blue-green foliage.  

Height: 3' to 7' (90 to 215cm).  Width: 3' to 6' (90 to 185cm).

USDA zone 7b through 10b.  Can be used for cut flower or garden.  

Diploid

There may have been at least two roses called 'Le Vésuve', or just 'Vésuve'. One seems to have been a China Rose, but another may have been a Hybrid Bourbon. Or, possibly, the 'Hybrid Bourbon' description was meant literally, not meaning that the rose belonged to the once-blooming class of Hybrid Bourbons, but just that it was a hybrid with Bourbon ancestry.

'Lemesle' seems to have been confused in commerce with 'Le Vésuve', with some references describing one or the other as starting out light pink, then aging to crimson or purple. The two names almost certainly referred to different roses, but at this point, it doesn't seem possible to disentangle the references.

Dominique Massad believes that 'Vésuve' in commerce is actually 'Rosabelle' by Bruant.