Book  (2021)  Page(s) 309-311.  Includes photo(s).
 
'Officinalis'.....According to Pom's dendogram 'Officinalis' is genetically identical with 'Rosa Mundi'. Their similarity index is 100%. The next nearest relative is 'Törnsfall' with a similarity index of 83,3%. Other close sorts are 'Pustebacken', 'Kullängen', 'Sundby', the moss rose 'Nuits de Young', 'Linnés hammarby' and 'Aimable Amie', all with similarity indices between 78,9 and 70,0%.

Article (newspaper)  (May 2012)  Page(s) 2.  Includes photo(s).
 
Patricia Routley: I saw R. gallica once in an American garden. Phillip Robinson explained to me that the rather insignificant almost-single red gallica was the species rose from which R. gallica officinalis descended. Linnaeus had named R. gallica so in 1759 because the specimen had been sent to him from France. These days HelpMeFind.com has been able to put the date back to before 1554, but if the next rose is its child, R. gallica has got to be a lot older than 1554. R. gallica officinalis, the semidouble red gallica has a date of before 1240. Some synonym names are ‘Apothecary’s Rose’, ‘Red Rose of Lancaster’, and ‘Rose de Provins’, named after a historic town in France where it grew in the time of the Crusades. (It has nothing to do with the Provence Roses which are the centifolia roses from the southern provinces of France.) Thibault IV returning from the Seventh Crusade in 1250 might have brought R. gallica officinalis back to England. Henry III’s second son, Edmund Crouchback, Duke of Lancaster, took this red rose as his emblem, which explains the ‘Red Rose of Lancaster’ synonym. The town of Provins became famous for its expertise in making highly-prized rose products using the perfumed dried rose petals, rose water and rose oil obtained from this red rose. The main street of the town consisted only of apothecaries’ shops and this industry persisted there for more than six centuries. The rose became known as the Apothecary’s Rose and was the official one (officinalis) that the apothecaries kept in their cupboard for making conserves, honey, tincture, troches, vinegar and syrup. Their medicines.were said to strengthen the stomach, prevent vomiting, stop tickling coughs, and were of great service in treating consumption. Well, that’s what the apothecaries would have had us believe, but these days scientists have not found any basis for its purported medical properties. R gallica officinalis came into my garden from three different sources. The first one in 1999 from the Pinjarra Heritage Rose Garden; the second from Susan Ronk in 2000 under another name; and the third in 2003 from the old Eildon Nursery in Kendenup. All three plants are doing well here. They sucker a little, but not excessively. I enjoy the simpleness of the bloom with its prominent stamens and when the plant blooms, the matte leaves are still new and deep green and the red semi-double flowers with gold spangles are set off beautifully. They open wide and are 3 inches across with about three layers of petals. Later the leaves take on a coarseness and look untidy. The leaf is distinctive in that the terminal leaflet has a long stalk and the side leaves are sessile and have almost no stalk. There are no glands on the leaf edge. The hips are orange to red, medium size, matte, glandular, rounded to pear-shaped fruit, with extended sepals which fall off singly. The canes with a few scattered thorns are about three feet high and make a bushy and branched plant. It can be grown in dappled shade and indeed seems to dislike too warm a site.

Newsletter  (Nov 2011)  Page(s) 2.  
 
“Cynthia Rose.” “Grandma,” as Cynthia Applegate was known in the Willamette Valley, grew a beautiful pink French rose in her yard. This rose became widespread, thanks to a young man, who, inspired by Johnny Appleseed in the Midwest, spread cuttings of her rose. But Johnny Rose, whose real name we’ll never know, wandered over the Oregon country, working here and there at pioneer homes. He carried with him fruit, vegetable seeds, and roses and gladly shared them with whomever asked. The rose was ‘Apothecary’s Rose’, also known as Rosa gallica officinalis.
(Retold and compiled from Mary Drain Albro by Kathleen McMullen of Northwest Rose Historians.)

Book  (2002)  Page(s) 84.  
 
R. gallica officinalis ('Apothecary's Rose') Species, before 1600. Rated 8.7

Magazine  (2002)  Page(s) 17. Vol 96, Part 1.  
 
Peter Harkness.  Red Rose of Lancaster......

Article (magazine)  (2001)  Page(s) 393.  
 
Rosa gallica var. officinalis Ser. Ploidy 4x
Pollen fertility 83.1%
Selfed Fruit set 8.7%
Selfed Seed set 21.9%

Article (magazine)  (2001)  Page(s) 400.  
 
Fig. 1: R. officinalis [Closest relation to 'Belle sans Flatterie'. Next kin: Assemblage de Beautés]

Article (magazine)  (Jun 1999)  Page(s) 101.  
 
Rosa gallica officinalis One of the roses Josephine grew at Malmaison and that is still available today...

Article (magazine)  (Jun 1999)  Page(s) 101.  Includes photo(s).
 
Redouté's version

Article (magazine)  (May 1999)  Page(s) 61.  Includes photo(s).