A variable group said to have originated from a chance hybrid discovered in 1817 by Parisian botanist, Bréon, on the íle de Bourbon (now Réunion). The parents were possibly the Autumn Damask rose and a Pink China rose. Subsequent crossing of the original Bourbon has occurred with Gallica and Damask hybrids. The Bourbons grow rapidly, have more or less spherical blooms in summer and may bloom into autumn.
Source: (2002). Rosaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Shrub to 2 m tall sometimes grown as a climber. Flowers in clusters, fairly open with wrinkled petals, pink with darker veins, fading towards the edges, and with prominent stamens. Strongly fragrant. Raised by Mauget, France and int.1834.
Shrub or climber 3-5 m tall, with few prickles. Flowers recurrent, mid-pink, strongly scented. Raised by Alister Clark, bred from 'zéphirine Drouhin', Australia,1937.
Shrub to 2 m tall. Flowers purplish crimson, large, double, strongly scented. Raised by Laffay, France, 1840.
Flowers with pale pink petals, darker below. A sport of 'Zéphirine Drouhin'. Selected by Dickson, UK, 1919.
Shrub 1-2 m tall. Flowers recurrent, pink, shaded with lilac, longflowering, fragrant. Raised by Margottin, France, probably with a Noisette as a parent, int. 1851.
Shrub to 2 m tall with bronze-coloured new growth. A sport of 'Madame Isaac Pereire' and similar in habit, flower type and fragrance but a paler pink, selected by v. Schwartz, France in 1888.
Shrub to 2 m or so tall, also grown as a climber. Flowers large, quartered at first, the petal margins rolled back, deep pink shaded with magenta. Strongly scented. Raised Garçon, France, 1881.
Narrow shrub 1-2 m tall. Flowers partly closed, pale creamy pink, becoming darker and sometimes mottled. Fragrant. A sport of 'Reine Victoria' selected by a. Oger, Caen, France in 1874 and int.Verdier in 1878.
Climbing shrub to 5 m tall. Flowers like 'Kathleen Harrop' but paler pink and with a cream centre. A sport of 'zéphirine Drouhin' selected by Zeiner, France, 1912.
Shrub 1-2 m tall. Flowers white flushed pink, strongly scented. Probably a selection of 'Madame Isaac Pereire' raised by g. Paul, uk, and int. Paul and Sons, 1891.
Rosa 'Souvenir De La Malmaison'
Shrub to 1 m tall or climber. Flowers pale pink, becoming paler with age, cup-shaped, becoming flat and quartered, pleasantly scented, repeat-flowering. Commemorating Empress Josephine's garden at Malmaison. Raised j. Beluze, France in 1843.
S' Shrub to 2 m or so tall. Flowers more or less single, pale pink, strongly scented. Selection of 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' arising in Lady Ardilaun's Garden, Dublin, Ireland. Int. 1950 by g.s. Thomas.
Shrub 1-2 m tall or climber. Flowers white, double, cupped, striped reddish purple, quartered, strongly fragrant. Raised a. Bonfiglione, Italy, 1909.
Shrub 2-3 m tall, thorny. Flowers semi-double, cupped at first, becoming flat, reddish purple with a white eye, unscented.a seedling selection of 'Russelliana' with other parent(s) unknown. Raised by Lambert, Germany, and int. 1909.
