I've only seen the Talbot Rose in Bermuda, and don't recall much about it. This rose does very much resemble 'Laure Davoust'. When I see them in our greenhouses, I have to check the label to determine which is which. That's a comparison we'd like to make with some DNA analysis, but have not got round to it yet.

But I have to wonder how an actual, vegetatively propagated LD could have ended up on that site in the wilds of a national park. I find that highly unlikely. But maybe a seedling of it? Even that seems strange, since roses of any kind are unusual on the Big Island -- most of the landscaping is more tropical stuff; that a Multiflora Rambler would be there, set good seed, and be carried by a bird (or by other means) to this site, and grow to a mature plant, seems very odd indeed. Yet there it was! I have no better explanation.

I have seen other roses also apparently seedlings, in Hawaii Volcanoes NP, along the road that goes around the main crater. None were flowering when I saw them, but the vegetative growth seemed always to be appropriate for something with Multiflora in its background, but not R. multiflora itself.


Next time I get over that way and have some time to explore, I may try driving through the nearby neighborhoods outside the park's borders, just looking for roses in gardens, to see if I can discover a potential seed source.