Book  (Feb 2009)  Page(s) 223.  
 
Rosa roxburghii Tratt/Rosa roxburghii plena Rehder: Description… Ce rosier fut introduit en Angleterre en 1824 par William Roxburgh, directeur du jardin botanique de Calcutta. Il provenait probablement de Chine. Comme souvent la forme double a été connue en Europe avant de retrouver dans la nature la forme originelle que l’on a alors qualifiée de ‘normalis’

Translation:
Rosa roxburghii Tratt / Rosa roxburghii plena Rehder: Description ... This rose was introduced in England in 1824 by William Roxburgh, director of the botanical garden in Calcutta. It likely came from China. As is often the double one was known in Europe before returning to the original form of nature which was then called a 'normalized'

Book  (1 May 2003)  
 
Rosa roxburghii Trattinnick, Ros. Monogr. 2: 233. 1823.
缫丝花 sao si hua
Rosa microphylla Desfontaines var. glabra Regel.
Shrubs diffuse, 1–2.5 m tall. Bark gray-brown; branchlets ascending-spreading, purple-brown, terete; prickles paired at nodes, mostly straight, to 5 mm, somewhat flat, abruptly narrowing to broad base. Leaves including petiole 5–11 cm; stipules mostly adnate to petiole, free parts subulate, margin glandular-pubescent; rachis and petioles with scattered small prickles; leaflets 9–15, elliptic or oblong, rarely obovate, 1–2 × 0.6–1.2 cm, glabrous, abaxially with prominent veins, conspicuously reticulate, base broadly cuneate, margin acutely simply serrulate, apex acute or rounded-obtuse. Flowers solitary, or 2 or 3 and fasciculate apically on branches, 4–6 cm in diam.; pedicel short; bracts 2 or 3, small, margin glandular-pubescent. Hypanthium depressed-globose, densely bristly. Sepals 5, usually broadly ovate, abaxially densely prickly, adaxially tomentose, pinnately lobed, apex acuminate. Petals 5, slightly fragrant, pink to rose-purple or reddish, obovate. Carpels on projected torus at base of hypanthium; styles free, not exserted, shorter than stamens, pubescent. Hip green-red, depressed-globose, 1.5–2 cm in diam., densely prickly, with persistent, erect sepals. Fl. Mar–Jul, fr. Aug–Oct.
Mountain forests, thickets, slopes, stream sides, also cultivated; 500--1400 m. Anhui, Fujian, S Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].
Two forms may be recognized: f. roxburghii, which has double or semi-double, reddish or pink flowers 5–6 cm in diam., and f. normalis Rehder & E. H. Wilson (in Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 2: 318. 1915), which has simple, pink flowers 4–6 cm in diam. The specific epithet was spelled “roxbourgii” in the protologue.

Book  (2001)  Page(s) 450-451.  
 
Rosa roxburghii Tratt., Rosac. Monog. 2 (1823) 233.
Rosa microphylla Roxb. ex Lindl., Ros. monog. 9 (1820) 146; Saintpierrea microphylla Germain de St. Pierre in J. de Ros. 2 (1878) 39; R. forresttii Focke in Not. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 5 (1911) 67, t. 62; R. hirtula Nakai in Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 34 (1920) 44; Platyrhodon microphylla Hurst in Verh. V. Internat. Kongr. Vererbungswiss. Berlin (1927) 902.
Small-leaved Chinese rose; Japanese sansho-ibara.
China, Japan.
In some regions of Java cultivated, the young shoots and leaves are eaten as a vegetable ("lablab").
Ref.: Becker & Van den Brink 1, 1963; Ohwi 1965, 1067 pp.

Book  (Nov 1998)  Page(s) 16.  Includes photo(s).
 
R. roxburghi Got its nickname of Chestnut rose because its prickly buds look like a chestnut burr.

Website / Catalog  (Jun 1998)  Page(s) 52.  
 
R. Roxburghii plena A most attractive double form of R. roxburghii -- similar to an Old Rose with large, pale pink outer petals and shorter centre petals of deeper pink. (Introduced from Canton 1824).

Book  (Mar 1998)  Page(s) 11.  
 
R. roxburghii fern-like foliage, flowers with crumpled petals, green fruits with stiff bristles, and bark which flakes away, becoming white and smooth...

Book  (Mar 1998)  Page(s) 11.  
 
R. roxburghii 'Roxburghii' found in 1824, very double, remontant, deep pink flowers...

Book  (Oct 1996)  Page(s) 39.  
 
R. roxburghii plena ('Chestnut Rose') Description... fresh green, fern-like foliage, buff-coloured bark that flakes, chestnut burred hips, and the most exquisite crepe paper scalloped frills of flowers -- pale pink frills on the outside, decreasing in size and becoming deep pink in the centre...

Book  (Mar 1994)  Page(s) 90-91.  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa roxburghii Description, vital statistics and tips

Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 511.  
 
R. roxburghii Trattinnick Species, lilac pink, ('Burr Rose'; 'Chestnut Rose', et al see Source) Cultivated prior to 1814. Buds prickly like a chestnut burr; flowers lilac pink... Description.