Magazine  (Dec 2021)  Page(s) 33. Vol 43, No. 4.  
 
Lynne Chapman and Billy West. A Close Look at Tea Roses
3. Incorrectly identified Tea roses, where we have been able to establish the correct name. A Tea rose is in commerce around the world today as Souvenir d’Élise Vardon, a rose which early colour descriptions tell us was light straw yellow or yellowish white to delicate light pink. The rose often sold under this name seems too brightly coloured to match these descriptions but we know that the colours of Tea roses can vary. So we needed more to go on and Paquet and Rouillard provided more in the year it was introduced, describing the peduncles of Souvenir d’Élise Vardon, as ‘showing little brownish hairs along their whole length’ and the receptacle also as ‘sprinkled with little brownish hairs’.

Glands or hairs or both, they are not present on the shiny, smooth pedicels of the rose sold as Souvenir d’Élise Vardon today, so careful observations from the 1850s gave us proof that this rose was misidentified - but what was it? Fortunately, the same rose is also in commerce under another name, its correct name, Mlle Franziska Krüger, 1879 and, as well as early descriptions matching, we have the proof of identity from a colour sport, Blumenschmidt which occurred in Germany and was released in 1905. Like its parent, it can show a hard green centre which occasionally contains many tiny buds.

Magazine  (2019)  Page(s) 51. Vol 41, No. 1.  
 
Margaret Furness.  Tea, Noisette and China Mislabels in Australia.
Souvenir d’Elise Vardon in commerce here and elsewhere is Mlle Franziska Krüger.

Book  (2 Nov 2003)  Page(s) 20.  
 
Barbara May and Jane Zammit.  Rookwood Cemetery Roses.  
The following roses have been identified at Rookwood, primarily in the old and Heritage listed areas  Souvenir d'Elise Vardon

[Note - further study revealed "Evelyn Dickings" was proved to be 'Mlle. Franziska Kruger']

Book  (Dec 2000)  Page(s) 328.  
 
Souvenir d'Elisa Vardon Tea. Marest (Paris, France) 1854

Book  (Dec 1998)  Page(s) 560.  Includes photo(s).
 
Souvenir d'Elise Vardon Tea. Marest (France) 1855. The color is not really white, though it can fade to white; it has been variously described as chamois, bronzish cream, bronzish pink and creamy fawn.

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 568.  
 
Souv. d'Elise Vardon Tea (Old Garden Rose), creamy white, center yellowish, 1855, Marest...

Book  (Jun 1992)  Page(s) 57.  
 
Souvenir d'Elisa Vardon ('Souvenir d'Elise Vardon') Tea. Marest, 1854. [Author cites information from different sources. Choix des Plus Belles Roses says, "Placed under the protection of the name of a young girl, 'Souvenir d'Elisa Vardon' offers a touching and symbolic reminder of grace and charm..."] ... Outer petals cream, centre salmon and fawn... soft salmon-pink

Book  (May 1992)  Page(s) 350.  
 
Souvenir d'Elise Vardon Tea. Marest (France) 1855... cream overlaid coppery-yellow...

Website/Catalog  (1982)  Page(s) 38.  
 
Souvenir d’Elise Vardon (Tea) Fragrant, coppery-yellow overlaid with cream. Scented 1855 (R) 3 x 3.

Book  (1975)  Page(s) 42.  
 
L. Arthur Wyatt. The hopes of Paul and all other rosarians were finally realized in a rose sent out in 1855 by a Parisian nurseryman, Marest, who named it ‘Souvenir d’Elise Vardon’. It took the rose world by storm and rosarians, professional and amateur alike, heaped upon it all the superlatives in their vocabularies. Shirley Hibberd, horticultural journalist and first editor of Amateur Gardening called it “the finest of all the Teas”; a most splendid rose” wrote William Paul; “perfect. A most superb variety” was the verdict of fellow-nurseryman John Cranston, while yet another great nurseryman, Thomas Rivers, added his praise: “Incomparable. Worthy of every care.” Forty years after its introduction, the Reverend A. Foster-Melliar, one of the leading amateur exhibitors of the late Victorian era, could still write: “It is getting quite an old rose now, but though new roses are issued every year by the scores, nothing has been raised to surpass or even equal it.” Looking at ‘Souvenir d’Elise Vardon’ today it is easy to understand the enthusiasm it engendered, for it displayed an entirely new basic form which revolutionized all ideas of floral perfection in roses. In it, the broad outer petals in deep cream gently reflex at the edges while the inner petals are held in a high scroll of light salmon and fawn. Coupled with the deep purple foliage and brown wood, it represents the epitome of all the grace and elegance for which the class if famous. It is not so free-flowering as many other Teas and there are longer gaps in its inflorescence. Growth can only be described as moderate and it is clearly at its finest under glass - hence Rivers’ remark. The helix form of bloom which came to us from “Souvenir d’Elise” (as it was often affectionately known) is frequently referred to as the “typical Tea shape”, although in point of fact it occurs only in a minority of Teas raised after its introduction. Evidently the responsible gene or genes are highly recessive. The fallacy of the “typical Tea shape” arose in all probability following the introduction in 1869 of ‘Catherine Mermet’, a beautiful bland pink with a sweet scent and the same desirable shape but of better habit and higher bloom yield than ‘Souvenir d’Elise Vardon’.....