Laevigata rosea
Laevigata rosea is a variety of R.laevigata cultivated in many places in Japan. The Japanese appear to feel that it is a mutant of the species. But having grown it for many years we think that it is probably a seedling of R.laeviagata, of the same type as Anemone, but different.
It must have been around for quite sometime in Japan as it is mentioned even in that well known book by Gerd Krussman ‘The Complete Book of Roses’.

One has to be clear whether laevigata rosea from Japan is the same plant which was being grown by Trevor Griffiths in his New Zealand collection. I get the impression that what he was growing was a color mutant of the species and not a seedling of the species which is what I feel is the plant grown in Japan, Peter Beales in his catalogue refers to a pink form of R.laevigata which he got from Trevor Griffiths. Clearly, a n expert like him would not have mistaken a seedling of R.laevigata for a pink form of the species In fact I had also written to Trevor many years back asking for some bud-wood of this pink laevigata, but he seemed reluctant to proceed further, possibly because of phyto-sanitary etc issues. To sum up, I feel that Trevor Griffiths pink Laevigata is indeed a color mutant of the species unlike the Japanese laevigata rosea which appears to be a species seedling, like Anemone . and its sport, Ramona.

But the laevigata rosea in Japan is almost certainly a hybrid and not a color mutant of the species.

The Japanese plant has foliage like R. laevigata but it is not invariably trifoliate. The size of the foliage and the shine on it is substantially less than that of R. laevigata itself.

In fact the foliage is not too different from that of Anemone.