A newly opened bloom, about 2.5" wide, on a cutting I rooted last summer. Sorry, I forgot to count the petals and it's too late to do so now, but as you can see it's well packed. The cuttings parent is in a country cemetery in north Louisiana.
	The same bloom, a couple of days later. The touch of white at the base of the petals remains completely hidden until the bloom is well past its prime. None of the blooms I've seen have been quartered, nor is there a prominent eye.
	More blooms. This baby was generous with its blooms, given its size and age, and every bloom was perfect.
	The lighter reverse is less noticeable as the bloom ages.
	The leaves are on the small side and smooth, with a matte finish. The backs of the leaf ribs are exceptionally prickly. Disease resistance is excellent.
	Thorns near the bottom of the plant. The upper halves of the canes are much less thorny.
	The cuttings parent, as pruned with a lawn mower. Scads of suckers were trying to reassert themselves as much as a yard away. There are large trees to the east and to the west, so the plant isn't getting anything close to a full day of sun. It's a once bloomer, so far as I can tell, and this photo was taken early in its bloom cycle. There numerous immature buds at the ends of the canes that don't show up very well. (The pink tongued black blob between the car door and tree is my supervisor, Bobby Chuck.)

Thanks for looking. - Laura

It is almost certainly a China-Gallica Hybrid, but it is not 'Cardinal de Richelieu'. the good Cardinal has petals that do not reflex at all, but retain their distinct heart shape to each petal. The color of your rose is too reddish-purple to be the Cardinal either and the canes are far too prickly. No, I can't tell you what it might be; I don't recognize it. There are so many purplish Hybrid Chinas floating around without names (I have several collected ones myself) that it is hard to distinguish one from another. You did an excellent job of documenting all the plant parts though, which is precisely what one needs to do for an identification.

Perhaps someone else will recognize your rose, but if you don't ever find a name for it, don't let that diminish your appreciation for its beauty.

Regards,
Paul

The blooms reminds me of the foundling called "Edna's Rose" that PrairieWind posted photos of on this forum a few years ago. One of PW's "Ednas" is blooming in my yard right now, and the flowers are very similar - it's probably one of the scores of purplish Hybrid Chinas that Paul mentioned. "Edna" has a wonderful fragrance.

Do you have any idea what the growth habit of a mature "Vienna Cemetery" plant is like? Hard to tell from the photo of the mother plant, since it was mowed back.

Cecilia; It has a moderately strong fragrance - spicy, not sweet.

I found several photos of Edna's Rose in a Webshots gallery (linked below), and if it isn't the same rose, it's certainly similar. What is its growth habit?

I know better than to draw too many conclusions from the appearance of a cemetery rose of unknown age and questionable care, but that said, the growth habit of my find seems to most resemble the first one described for gallicas on the Vintage Gardens web site. There is evidence of suckering over a wide area, most of which has been mowed. The un-mowed canes don't appear to have been pruned or to have suffered any winter die-back and are slender, lightly branched, dense, and maybe 4' tall or a little less. They arch somewhat under the weight of the blooms, then pop up fairly straight once relieved of their burden.

Oldroser, Berndoodle; Red Runaround... I've never heard of that one. How large are the blooms, and how red is it? My rose isn't grape purple but I wouldn't call it red either. More of a violet-magenta, with a slate blue cast to the outer petals.

I notice that there are full sun and partial shade shots of Edna's Rose in the Webshots gallery. Has there been discussion of the shade tolerance of that rose? The VCP parent plant is growing in a spot that I would consider too shady for most roses, and yet blooms well and appears to be in remarkably good health for a cemetery rose.

I wish it were a better picture, but the foliage is pretty much in focus. The blooms dry out to a wine color in serious heat. As I recall the blooms are only about 2 inches across, and the plants I saw weren't terribly tall - - say 3 to 4 feet. It suckers and forms a colony.

Your plant doesn't have that suckering look, and the blooms look pretty big.

Cecilia, do the petals of Edna's Rose have a light reverse?