Article (magazine)  (Sep 2021)  Page(s) 18.  Includes photo(s).
 
Ellen Willmott in “Genus Rosa” writes that R. leschenaultiana has often been called the South Indian form of Rosa moschata ‘Mill’, but we believe it is a perfectly good and distinct species. It is closely related to the South European Rosa sempervirens, thereby referring to its evergreen character. Its leaflets are 5 to 7 together, elliptic and oblong, 1.5 to 2.5 inches across, numerous, in large corymbs, the buds very acute, the fruits globose. It was considered a “geographical form’’ being more robust, with larger flowers and with very glandular leaf petioles, pedicels and calyx. The modern view, however, is different as it is considered to be a part of the musk rose complex (synstylae). It is now called Rosa leschenaultiana, ‘Wight and Arnot'. (Robert Wight also discovered it in 1836 in the same Nilgiri and Palni Mountains). Earlier its nomenclature was either R. sempervirens var ‘Leschenaultiana Thory' (in Redouté, ‘Les Roses’, 1824) or R. moschata var.‘Leschenaultiana Rehder' (in Bailey 1902)....
The distinctive feature of this straggling, climbing rose is its violet and purple stems. It was once very luxuriant and common in the forests, festooning native “shola” trees to a height of 60 to 70 feet with long trails of single pure white flowers, which are faintly fragrant. With the onset of development throughout the area, it is increasingly rare to find. In the Centenary Rose Garden in Ootacamund (now called Uthagamandalam), the capital town of the district of the Nilgiris, the hedges on either side of the wide entrance steps are of this rose species, commonly called the “Ooty Rose”....
In the region where we live, the Palni Hills, a sister mountain to the Nilgiris (both are a part of the Western Ghats) and where the rose grows in the inner vastness of the forests, we have found it in a location by the side of a road leading to an interior hill village, making it easy to take rose enthusiasts to see this special rose species.

[First published in Rose Anciennes en France 2016 and the Rose Letter, February 2017, pp. 2-5]

Newsletter  (2016)  Page(s) 20. Vol 38, no. 1.  Includes photo(s).
 
Sally Allison. For The Love of Species.
.... A few years ago we saw R. leschenaultiana the native rose of Southern India, at Tamil Nadu while visiting Viru and Giriga Viraraghaven. This rose was one of my earliest purchases from Trevor [Griffiths] and it has romped around my garden ever since. My plant and the cuttings I have taken from it are, I believe, the only ones remaining in New Zealand.

Article (misc)  (Jun 2007)  
 
R. leschenaultiana ....This rose species, one of the southernmost representatives of the musk rose clan ( the alternate name is R. moschata leschenaultiana) is endemic to the Nilgiri and Palni Hills, which are part of the Western Ghats range. It is an extensive armed straggler reaching up to 10 meters, forming impenetrable thickets in the native forests. The flowers are quite large by musk rose standards and are very showy, 7 1/2 cms. wide.
A  distinctive feature are the purple stems.
This species is named in honor of the French botanist, Leschenault de la Tour, who visited India in the 1810’s, collected many plants, and sent them to the island of Reunion and France.

Newsletter  (1999)  Page(s) 7. Vol 20, No. 4.  
 
Sally Allison.  Roses in India. 
[At Viru and Girija Viraraghavan's garden].  I felt quite close to home to see growing up and covering one corner of the house the lovely off-white single R. leschenaultiana.  This is the only rose native to Southern India and one I grow, purchased from Trevor Griffith about thirty years ago.  It seems it is now rare in cultivation being only available from two nurseries - one in Australia and one in France.  

Website/Catalog  (1942)  Page(s) 24.  
 
Species Roses
R. Leschinault—Evergreen foliage, and enchanting big milky blooms followed by red fruits. Extremely healthy, and one of the most obligingly tractable of any species, lending itself to training wherever desired, with canes eight to twelve feet long... $1.00

Book  (1937)  Page(s) 73.  
 
Leschenaultiana Wight & Arnold (moschata-race) [ploidy] 14

Book  (1932)  Page(s) 97.  
 
Reverend George M. A. Schoener, Rosa Gigantea and its Allied Species. it would seem fitting to say also a word abour R. Leschenaulti, Wight & Arnott.....

Website/Catalog  (1914)  Page(s) 8.  
 
Rosa moschata....Leschenaultia. White, single, floriferous, in upright trusses

Book  (14 Dec 1910)  Page(s) Vol. 1, Part III, p. 51-52.  
 
15 - ROSA LESCHENAULTIANA Wight & Arnott
Rosa Leschenaultiana : caulibus longis, diffusis ; aculeis parvis, sparsis, leviter hamatis ; foliis persistentibus ; foliolis 5-7, ellipticis vel oblongo-lanceolatis, acutis vel acuminatis, interdum basi rotundatis, minute serratis, supra atroviridibus, infra pallidioribus ; rhachi infra aculeis hamatis numerosis instructa, glanduloso-pubescente, glandulis saepius stipitatis ; stipulis adnatis, glanduloso-ciliatis, apice liberis, subulatis ; floribus numerosis, corymbosis, alabastris, acutissimis; pedicellis validis, glandulosis, bracteatis ; bracteis anguste oblongis, acuminatis, glanduloso-pubescentibus, deciduis ; calycis tubo ovoideo, glandulosissimo ; lobis oblongo-lanceolatis, acuminatis, saepe foliaceis, extra glandulosissimis, intra pubescentibus ; petalis albis, late obovatis, rotundatis, integris vel emarginatis ; stylis conjunctis, exsertis, pilosis ; carpellis setis paucis instructis ; fructu globoso, rubro ; sepalis caducis.
R. Leschenaultiana Wight & Arnott, Prodr. FI. Ind. 301 (1834). — Wight, Icon. t. 38 (1840). — Crépin in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. vol. xiii. p. 259 (Primit . Monogr. Ros. fasc. iii. p. 266) (1874). — Déséglise in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. vol. xv. p. 203 (Cat. Rais. Ros. p. 34 [1877]) (1876). — Hooker f, FI. Brit. Ind. vol. ii. p. 368 (1879). — Brandis, Indian Trees , p. 288 (1906).
R. sempervirens , var. Leschenaultiana Thory in Redouté, Roses, vol. iii. p. 87, t. (1821).
R. moschata , var. Leschenaultiana Rehder in Bailey, Cycl. Am. Hort. vol. iv. p. 1550 (1902).

A large, straggling evergreen bush. Prickles small, sparse, slightly hooked. Leaves, including petioles, 4-6 in. long. Leaflets 5-7, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 1½-2½ in. long, ¾-1 in. wide, acute or acuminate, sometimes rounded at base, finely serrate, dark green above, paler below. Petioles with numerous hooked prickles on under side, glandularly pubescent, glands often stipitate. Stipules adnate, 1 in. long, glandular-ciliate, apices free, subulate. Flowers 2-2½ in. across, numerous, in large corymbs ; buds very acute. Pedicels 1-2 in. long, stout, glandular, bracteate ; bracts narrowly oblong, acuminate, pubescent and glandular, deciduous. Calyx-tube ovoid, very glandular; lobes oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, 1-1¼ in. long, often foliaceous, very glandular outside, pubescent inside. Petals white, broadly obovate, 1-1¼ in. long, 1 in. wide, rounded, entire or emarginate. Styles coherent, exserted, pilose; carpels with few setose hairs. Fruit globose, red ; sepals deciduous.

This Rose has often been called the South Indian form of Rosa moschata Mill., but it is a perfectly good and distinct species. It is closely related to the South European Rosa sempervirens L., and has been considered by Seringe¹ and others as a geographical form of this species, from which it differs by its more robust habit, larger flowers, and very glandular leaf-petioles, pedicels and calyx. The glands extend to the back of the young petals. It was first brought to Europe by the distinguished French naturalist Leschenault de la Tour, and by him sent to Thory. Leschenault found it on the higher levels of the Neilgherri and Fulney Mountains, where it is plentiful, and it was collected by Wight in 1836, by Munro in the same year, by Gardner in 1847 and by Sir George Watt in 1874. It has recently been found by Dr. Henry in Yun-nan. It is the only wild Rose of the temperate mountains of South India, Rosa Lyellii Lindl. being found exclusively on the lower hills, especially of Mysore.
Redoute made his drawings from Leschenault's herbarium specimens, and although the plate answers to Thory's description, it can give but a faint idea of the charm and beauty of this striking Rose. It is described by those who have seen it in its native mountains as so luxuriant that it festoons the trees to a height of sixty or seventy feet with its long trails of pure white fragrant flowers. The violet-tinted stems are powdered with a fine glaucous dust, which resembles the bloom on fruit and adds to the striking appearance of the Samatigui, as it is called by the natives.
Thory named this Rose after Leschenault, who has been honoured by many dedications, among others that of the very beautiful Australian genus Leschenaultia. It is in cultivation at Kew and elsewhere, but, like its prototype, is scarcely hardy in the neighbourhood of London.
¹ In De Candolle, Prodr. vol. ii. p. 598 (1825)

Magazine  (Jun 1908)  Page(s) 236.  
 
NOTES SUR LES ROSES DE CHINE (1)
...Groupe II. — Systylœ. — ...Le R. Leschenaultiana croit dans l'Inde aussi bien qu’en Chine ; c'est une belle sorte sarmenteuse, atteignant de grandes dimensions, qui, malheureusement, n’est pas précoce dans le voisinage de Londres. Cependant, elle réussirait probablement bien dans les comtés du Sud-Ouest......G. Nicholson
(Traduit par M. B. Bellefin, 26, cours Morand, à Lyon. Traductions anglaises, allemandes, italiennes et russes.)
(1) Journal of the royal hort. Society.