Website/Catalog  (3 Nov 2015)  
 
Registered Name: 'Félicie'
Synonyms: 'Petite Renoncule Violette', 'Sultane Favorite'
ARS Approved Exhibition Name: Félicie
HGal, m, 1820, Vibert; flowers deep magenta to violet, small, dbl., ranunculus-shaped, moderate fragrance; foliage small. Agathe group; foliage suggests it may be a hybrid China

Book  (2011)  Page(s) 43.  
 
Gwen Fagan, Mystery Roses of the Cape. ....But it was in the old Anglican cemetery in Grahamstown that I discovered many beautiful rose shrubs growing lusciously in spite of total lack of attention. Most of the I was able to name at once, a few needed some research before they were identified, but one rose, which was blooming profusely, was a mystery. I had never before seen it in any garden at the Cape or overseas. The small dark maroon fragrant flowers opening from rounded buds, looked just like ranunculi and indeed, when I looked through Redoute's Les Roses, volume three, there was La Petite Renoncule Violet, similar in every way to the little rose I had seen on the grave of James Estment, who was buried in 1850. At that time it was a popular rose in French and Dutch gardens as as it grows so easily, one wonders why it was virtually extinct by the 1980s. Did it perhaps sucker too vigorously in modern gardens?

Magazine  (2007)  Page(s) 28. Vol 29, No. 3.  
 
Margaret Furness & Pat Toolan, SA. Some Roses in SA through Californian Eyes:
We were eager to see whether Phillip Robinson and Gregg Lowery would recognize any of our foundling roses….Petite Renoncule Violette in David Ruston’s garden looks to be the same as the very common Californian foundling that has the study name “Mary Lawrance’s Shell Rose”.

Book  (2006)  Page(s) 31.  
 
Hybrid Chinas. Felicie "Sultane Favorite". HCh (G). o. Outstanding fragrance. Habit 2 [e.g. "Ruth's German Rose". The tall, more slender-caned and thorned, rather broadly arching to as tall as 7 to 10', perhaps suggesting a Bourbon influence] . Vibert 1923. [Provenance: San Jose Heritage Rose Garden]. Like the ranunculus-flowered Gallicas, this sports an abundance of small double flowers of magenta-pink fading paler, very complex in its blend of colors. It has the small foliage often seen in old rose hybrids that involved China roses, and should probably be considered a Hybrid China. Tall thornless stems stretch enough to be used on a pillar, fence or wall.

Book  (May 1998)  Page(s) 266.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa Gallica Agatha Parvula Violacea Lit. 'Small Ranunculus Violet Provins Agatha Rose'.
Shrub up to 45 cm tall; branches diffuse, covered in the upper part with very numerous acicles and in the lower part with a few parse unequal prickles mixed with glands. Leaves inclined in a remarkable way; leaflets 5 (-7), elliptic, bidenticulate, upperside green and glabrous, underside paler; petioles glandular hispid, with small straight prickles. Flowers I (-2), lateral and terminal, small; sepals pinnatifid, short, scarcely overtopping the petals in bud; petals 8-10-seriate, purple to dark violet, paler towards the. base, densely packed like those of a double Ranunculus. Heps pyriform, red or dark orange, persisting throughout much of the winter.
This is a variant of the 'Provins Rose' in the Agatha Group, having very double blooms with densely packed petals curled and crumpled at the centre. We found it last summer in Le Dru's rich collection, and amateurs can obtain it from Vibert's nursery. It seems related to Descemet's seedling 'Petite Violette", but the rose under discussion is a little larger. It requires shade and only ordinary culture. Le Dru prunes it very hard.

Book  (Nov 1994)  Page(s) 36.  
 
Sultane Favorite According to old French books this should be a small purplish rose. My present plant is far and away the most vigorous of the Gallica hybrids - a tall, swaying, leafy bush with abundant flowers in large upright trusses; they are small, cupped, double, quartered, clear pink fading paler. Sweet scent. Up to 20 flowers in a truss. Excellent for cutting long sprays. 5 to 6 feet.

Book  (1988)  Page(s) 39.  Includes photo(s).
 
Petite Renconcule Violette
Plant: a suckering shrub with many thin upright stems and fine straight thorns.
Foliage: Five very dainty pointed leaflets with dull surfaces, glandular on the underside and with bidentate serrations on the glandular edges. The young leaves have a distinctive coppery red tinge. Leaf-stalks are delicate and also glandular and have many tiny hooks on the underside. Stipules are adnate, narrow and glandular on the margins.
Flowers: The small round bud with flattened top opens into a very full, dark-maroon flower about 5cm in diameter with central recurving crumpled petals and outer notched petals opening flat to form a rosette. The calyx is cup-shaped and smooth, the sepals foliated and glandular. The flowers are fragrant and appear only in the early spring.
Inflorescence: One to two flowers in a truss at the top of the bunches on glandular, delicate, upright flower-stalks. Bracts are small, green, and glandular.

Book  (1936)  Page(s) 254.  
 
Félicie (Provins) Vibert 1823; blackish purple, often deep pink, shaded bluish violet, small, very double = Sultane favorite

Book  (1936)  Page(s) 656.  
 
Sultane Favorite (Provins) Miellez ca. 1835; purple, often deep pink, shaded bluish-violet, small, very double = Sultane double, Félicie.

Book  (1899)  Page(s) 168.  
 
Sultane favorite, Provins, Miellez, pourpre nuancé