Rev Douglas Seidel mentions a “Purple Boursault” growing next to a stone pillar near an old barn in Pa., discovered when he was a child when he started rose hunting. He lived outside of Easton, Pa. This was mentioned in a piece he wrote for Heritage Roses, vol.XXV, no. 4, 2000, Still The Thrill Of The Hunt. He mentions quite a few old roses in this article.

Is Maheca known to be a very early bloomer? Mine is blooming in the first week of April, which makes it an early bloomer, although not the earliest, that honor falling to Rosa sericea f. pteracantha and Fortune's Double Yellow.

This rose is widely distributed in old communities and mining towns in the west. I have found it in Columbia and Julian in California, Green River Utah, Mogollon New Mexico, and New Braunfels Texas..

I have traded this rose by the study name that I gave it of "Claire".