Book  (1987)  Page(s) 9.  Includes photo(s).
 
Plate 9

Website/Catalog  (1986)  Page(s) 9.  
 
Alba Semi-Plena.....16th Century or earlier

Website/Catalog  (1986)  Page(s) 32.  
 
Rosa alba* (White Rose of York). Pure white, single flowers similar to the dog rose.  Foliage matt-green. Fruit oval and reddish-orange. Pre 16th Century.  P. W. H. F. (S) 6 x 4

Book  (1984)  Page(s) 71.  
 
Rosa x alba ‘Semiplena’ /Rosa x alba var suaveolens Dieck /Rosa x alba nivea /’Rose blanche’ /’Rose blanche d’York’= Parents = sans doute Rosa coriifolia var froebelii X Rosa x damascena. Existe depuis l’Antiquité. De nos jours, existe encore à l’état sauvage dans le Kurdistan et atteint peut-être la Crimée et le Caucase. Cultivé à Kazanlak, en compagnie de Rosa x damascena ‘Trigintipetala’ pour la fabrication de l’eau de rose et de l’huile de rose, moins odorant mais plus rustique. …feuillage d’une couleur extraordinaire: un vert comme recouvert de lait gelé et transparent, et les fleurs semi-doubles, d’un blanc à reflets de lait, elles aussi…

Article (website)  (1982)  Page(s) 8.  
 

Alba Semi-plena (alba) Semi-double pure white flowers borne on a graceful planti with matt grey leaves. Sweetly scented. Good heps in Autumn. 16th Century. W. H. (S) 6 x 5

Book  (1978)  Page(s) 150.  
 
R. Arvensis.....Two  more claims to fame have been made for it, that it was the white rose of York, on the grounds that Yorkshire was full of it, whereas the rival claimant, R. x alba would have  been less common; and that it is the rose Shakespeare knew  as the musk-rose. A case can be made for the second claim, because the lovely lines from A Midsummer Night's Dream,  'I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows', refer to a place in the countryside embellished with wild flowers. R. arvensis is the only wild rose in Britain that can be taken for a Musk, and it is indeed the most closely related. Shakespeare's musk-rose 'quite over-canopied'  the pretty scene; which only  R. arvensis could do, being the solitary wild climbing rose in Britain; it is true that the real Musk Rose had arrived, probably by about 1540, and was to be the only climbing rose available to gardeners for a long period; but I cannot see Shakespeare mixing a cultivated plant with the natural flora of the English countryside, 'Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.' He knew it too well. And if anyone seeks to remind me that the play was set near Athens, I shall ask if Bottom is a common name in Greece. 

Book  (1974)  Page(s) 47.  
 
Tess Allen.  Alba Roses. 
Friends of ours, the Whitfields live in one of the oldest inhabited small houses in Suffolk;  part of the house dates back to Henry VII.  In the forecourt there is a very old suckering shrub of Rosa alba maxima, and no one knows how many upheavals in the history of the house the rose has survived.  In summer the forecourt is brightened with the shrub's florescence of creamy-white roses;  when the double blooms first open the centres are flushed with pink.  The shrub is considered to be a double mutant of Rosa alba semi-plena;  it grows to a greater height than the sport and with half the number of petals a coronet of golden stamens is displayed in the centre of the flower.  R. alba semi-plena is also known as the 'White Rose of York' and in my opinion it is far more strongly scented than R. alba maxima.

Website/Catalog  (1967)  Page(s) 7-8.  
 
Rosa alba and hybrids . White Rose - White Rose of York.
Rosa alba has probably originated as a natural hybrid of R. canina x R. damascena. Its provenance is unknown, Greek and Roman writers mention it. Albertus the Grand (1193-1280) has described it extensively. Crescentius recommends it in 1307 as a hedge plant. R. alba is popular with Italian painters of the 15th century. It is also encountered in Flemish miniatures if the Middle Ages. The rose is proven in culture since 1597. Linné spoke of the "species" R. alba in 1753. H. Christ, Créoin and foremeost C.C. Hurst pointed out that it is a hybrid - as mentioned above.
It is found in Kurdistan, Caucasus and Crimea.
R. alba forms a shrub about 2 m tall. The blooms are white to soft pink, mostly double and fragrant. Blooms: June.

Book  (1966)  Page(s) 45.  
 
 The historic White Rose of York is a variety of R. alba.

Website/Catalog  (1961)  Page(s) 19.  
 
Rosiers Alba .....LA ROSE D'YORK (synonyme BLANCHE DÉ BELGIQUE). De coloris blanc pur, cette rose servit d'emblème au parti d'York lors de la Guerre des Deux Roses qui ensanglanta l'Angleterre au XVe siècle.