You can find this rose outside the west windows of the library. It is originally from France and is named after the wife of a member of a banking family during the reign of Napoleon III (1881).
Bourbon roses are named for the ‘Ile Bourbon’, now called the island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, where they are supposed to have originated from a natural cross between the China rose `Parsons’ Pink’ from the far east and the red Damask Perpetual rose `Tous-les-Mois’, from Europe, two roses which were used as hedge material on the island during the Napoleonic war. (This, however, is an area of hot dispute between rose experts in almost every particular.)
Advertisement
