R. arboreum

DSC00517-R-arboreum 64-118
R-arboreum 64-118

1964/118  LEO  (0\R1\6).  Rose (55A) in bud, opening to rose (55B) flowers with darker pink flecks and basal blotching.  One of the most amazing flowers in the collection.

Large evergreen shrubs or trees, often growing to 100 ft. in the wild, (hence its name, meaning “tree-like”) but rarely over 40 ft. in cultivation.  The flowers (mid- to late spring) are bright red to carmine, rarely pink or white in a large round and full inflorescence.  Leaves dark green with white to silver-colored indumentum below.  Native to open or mixed forests on the lower slopes of the Himalayas from Kashmir in the west to Bhutan in the east.  Occurs at elevations of 6,000 to 9,000 ft. where it is often the dominant species.