(2006)  
 
p77 The Maison Meilland honoured this remarkable man with a magnificent dark velvet Hybrid Tea in 1951. ‘Charles Mallerin’ still is a very popular dark red rose, and it is not surprising it got the epithet ‘darkest red rose ever’ upon introduction. It is a fitting accolade because it was a milestone in the search for the black rose, in which the torch was handed on to the Meilland family in the Fifties. It would move them from strength to strength.

p115 ….’Charles Mallerin’ was also a rose bred in 1951, a hybrid tea with slender, elegant buds opening out onto a double, very dark red flower with a penetrating fragrance. The foliage is dark green and thick. It is one of the darkest red roses; its colouring appears to be glossed over with black tints. It is named after the rose breeder friend admired by the Meillands, Charles Mallerin. The rose is born of a (’Gloire de Rome’ x ‘Congo’) x ‘Tassin’ crossing. It is the parent of a great many red and black roses: ‘Papa Meilland’, ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Perle Noire’, ‘Norita-Schwarze Rose’, ‘Ebony’, ‘El Toro’, ‘Clos Vougeot’….