Book  (2020)  Page(s) 145.  
 
'Rote Zentifolie von Gerda Nissen'. During the 70s and 80s the giornalist Gerda Nissen (1929-1999) went in search of old roses in cemetaries, farmers' gardens, abandoned domains and roadways in Schleswig-Holstein . Her book "Alte Rosen" enchanted many friends of historical roses and she wrote. "Wo betide who he desires to know what he has, what its name it and how old it is! The hobby of rose identification is an adventure of uncertain conclusion!"

Article (website)  (2007)  Includes photo(s).
 
Unknown “Centifolia”
Class: Definitely not a centifolia, but rather a hybrid bourbon. Growth: tall, needs support. Foliage: 5-leaflets, roundish with flattened tip, smooth, close to each other, finely serrated, central axis occasionally hooked. Stipule: red center. Calyx: cupped, smooth. Sepal: short, few appendages. Bud: roundish, carmine-pink. Bloom: medium, loosely double, stays in flat cup form, intensely carmine-pink, reverse lighter, lightly silvery, conspicuous contrast. Older blooms more open, the crown of stamens is then visible. Prickles: straight, thin, pointed, longer or shorter. Fragrance: Moderate, slightly sweet fruity. Comment: In Sangerhausen as “Fundrose Gerda Nissen”.

Book  (1984)  Page(s) 56-57.  Includes photo(s).
 
Unbekannte rote Zentifolie (unknown red centifolia)
This not often found unknown....doubtlessly belongs into the class of centifolias. Foliage, wood and prickles of the shrub make it evident. The bloom not: Her perfect initial centifolia-form disintegrates soon into a loose, lush splendour and displays a vivid, almost streaked pink with silvery shaded reverse - all in all too fiery for the soft pink-scale of the older centifolias. On the other hand, she does not look like a more recent variety. ...brings forth a multitude of hips, a rarity in the very double centifolias.
Until the middle of the 19th century, there is a centifolia variety in Rose literature, which had no specific name (generally an indicator for a very old age for a rose), which was described only as "Rote Zentifolie" (red centifolia) or "Alte rote Zentifolie" (old red centifolia). But what is old in 1850? In the same books, I also always come back to the description of a centifolia, which is called "de Nancy". Especially the english breeder William Paul seems to have given in 1848 a well-matching description of my Unknown in his "de Nancy".
Still, I have my doubts. When I look at her, she appears sometimes strangely familiar. Where do I know her from? Maybe from paintings of Dutch painters of flowers in the 17th century?....
Rosa centifolia, Unknown red centifolia, bloom 9-10 cm, 150 cm high, once-blooming, origin and age unknown.

Book  (1984)  Page(s) 86-87.  Includes photo(s).
 
Unbekannte Bourbonhybride (unknown hybrid bourbon)
Yes: leaning three meter high on a telegraph pole - this is how I found this Beauty in a village garden. The tall upright shrub was surrounded by suckers and decorated with numerous blooms glowing like lanterns among the slack, broad foliage. Blooms of unique beauty, full and rich, perfectly rounded, wide open with curiously folded petals in the middle; the colour a warm carmine-pink, at a closer look with fine, fishbone-like lines.
Naturally, the new inhabitants of the 1850s-60s house new nothing about this garden ornament. They had taken it over as is. Whether the house which was far outside the village had an older predecessor could not be clarified. Experts which saw the rose were enthusiastic, but shrugged. There was nothing else left but to be modest: Unknown Rose, probably belonging to the hybrid bourbon class. Her birth should be somewhere between 1840 and 1870.