Book  (Feb 1993)  Page(s) 148.  Includes photo(s).
 
Russelliana ('Old Spanish Rose', 'Russell's Cottage Rose', 'Scarlet Grevillei', 'Souvenir de la Bataille de Marengo') Polyantha climber. Parentage: Obscure, probably a cross between R. multiflora and R. setigera. Spain 1840. Description and cultivation... Bears fragrant, fully double, small flowers of crimson-purple in clusters...

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 357.  Includes photo(s).
 
'Russeliana'. Rambler. The Grevilleas are a group of shrubs, native to Australia, to which no rose bears the slightest resemblance. It seems that the name ‘Scarlet Grevillea’ arises from this rose having been introduced from the Far East about 1840 by Sir Charles Greville. If he was responsible, he was guilty of false advertising, for ‘Russeliana’ is hardly scarlet but a deep magenta-pink, fading to a much softer dusty color as the flowers age. The plant is one of the strongest of ramblers, with coarse mid-green foliage, and the flowers are scented. Some say that it derives from Rosa multiflora; R. rugosa and R. setigera have both been suggested as more likely ancestors. It is a great survivor in difficult conditions.

Book  (1993)  Page(s) 146.  Includes photo(s).
 
('Russelliana', 'Old Spanish Rose', 'Russell's Cottage Rose', 'Souvenir de la Bataille de Marengo') An old Rambler of unknown origin. Probably bred in Spain around 1840. Summer flowering. Height: 600 cm (20 ft.) Well scented.

Book  (1988)  Page(s) 84-85.  Includes photo(s).
 
Russelliana (Old Spanish Rose, Russel's Cottage Rose, Souvenir de la Bataille de Marengo) A rambler of unknown origin, known since 1840. Growth up to 6 m. Flowers heavily scented in a large open cluster, produced only at midsummer, opening cerise crimson, fading purplish.

Magazine  (1987)  Page(s) 15. Vol 9, No. 2.  
 
Robert Peace: 'Russeliana', ('Russel’s Cottage Rose') has many Gallica attributes. With growth to 9m, (Griffiths) it could be a rambler, but our true ramblers are R. Wichuriana hybrids in the main, which this rose certainly isn’t. I haven’t seen it listed commercially but I have seen it in a few collections and cemeteries and also on the fence of an old cottage (c1910) in Ascot Vale, Vic.

Magazine  (1986)  
 
1986 2nd International Heritage Rose Conference, Adelaide, proceedings.
Clair Martin III. Hunting Old Roses in the Mother Lode Country in California.
p37. One of the real common root stocks we produce in California. I first saw this rose growing on the roadside. It’s very purple - looks like a rambler. It has a lot of multi-flora characteristics in it. I didn’t really know the name until I got to this garden. This is Barbara Wall’s garden and it turns out it’s a Russelliana or Russell’s Cottage Rose. It has a whole list of names. When I first went up to collect it, I went up through an old farmstead and it had hundreds of feet of it growing along a great old rock wall. So I knocked at the door and I asked - I explained what I was doing - and I didn’t want to dig up or take cuttings of the rose without his permission, and he looked at me rather curiously. I said “You know, the purple one out on your roadside”, and he goes “Take it, take it! Dig it all up”. So I asked him where it came from. He didn’t know the name, and he didn’t know where it came from, but he was very sure that the Chinese brought it in. Actually it came from England.

Website/Catalog  (1985)  Page(s) 44.  
 

Russelliana* (Multiflora Rambler) (Old Spanish Rose) (Russell’s Cottage) (Scarlet Grevillea) (Souvenir de la Bataille de Morengo) Fully double, flat flowers of magenta-crimson fading to mauve, in clusters. c.1840. P. Shade tolerant. (C) 20 x 15’.

Book  (1985)  Page(s) 30.  
 
The present Lady Tollemache is doing all sorts of interesting things with that amazingly romantic moated house in Suffolk where, in the old walled gardens, one can find….. and Russelliana – to name just a few of the lurkers from the past.

Book  (1983)  Page(s) 71.  
 
Russeliana, 1840. An old rose which is generally classed with R. multiflora varieties, but possibly it is more nearly related to R. setigera or R. rugosa. It was variously known as 'Russell's Cottage Rose', 'Scarlet Grevillea', 'Old Spanish Rose', and more recently 'Souvenir de la Bataille de Marengo' has been added to this list of synonyms. Its name 'Scarlet Grevillea' points to its having perhaps been brought from the Far East by Sir Charles Greville (together with R. multiflora platyphylla), and I suppose by comparison with that pale rose its intense colouring might in those days be called 'scarlet'. In these days it certainly would not, being of intense cerise-crimson flushed crimson-purple, fading to magenta; flowers very double, small, in clusters. Dark green, obovate leaves. Stems densely covered with small prickles. A hardy, floriferous rose making a good colour effect at midsummer, but rather coarse. Will reach to 20 feet and appears to be imperturbably hady. Old rose scent. Possibly related to 'de la Grifferaie', a shrub rose frequently used as an understock.

Book  (1983)  Page(s) 152.  Includes photo(s).
 
'Russelliana' (1840). And old variety very popular at one time and rarely seen these days. It has double small fragrant flowers of crimson-purple which appear in clusters. They pale with age and the plant grows strongly to over 9 metres.