Rosa x odorata or the Tea Rose is a cross between R.chinensis and R. gigantea.
They were a big hit in southern Europe where they thrived in the warm dry climate and offered reliable repeat flowering for the first time.
But the feature that excited the market the most was the unique high centred, lightly fragrant blooms which unfurled to open.
This new, delicately beautiful shape captured imaginations and breeders set about adding other features like sweeter perfumes to counter the slightly musty ‘tea’ scent of the first arrivals.
One of the parents - R. gigantea – added yellow blooms into the gene pool and further cross breeding produced apricots, salmons, and new shades of pink previously unseen.
Examples include ‘Lady Hillingdon’, ‘Archduc Joseph’, ‘Mrs Foley Hobs’ - though the most famous is perhaps Rosa odorata 'Mutabilis' with its variable coloured (pink and yellow) flowers on single plants.