Gallica roses are a case in point. While the popularity of Old Roses waxes and wanes as each new generation discovers them and then seeks something new, the best of them carry on regardless.

Rosa gallica, also known as the French Rose or Provins Rose, is a species that grows wild from southern and central Europe to the Caucasus. Because it readily produces sports, has a tendency towards double flowers, and may have hybridised naturally with other species, it is likely that the earliest European garden roses were forms of Rosa gallica.

The earliest recognisable Gallica still grown is 'Officinalis', the Apothecary's Rose. It is a deep pink semi-double thought to have been introduced into France from the Middle East by returning 13th century crusaders. It has even been suggested that 'Officinalis' was the first cultivated rose, though that is impossible to prove. A similar rose was used medicinally and in perfume manufacture in Charlemagne's time, but it can't be traced back beyond around 1200 with any certainty. Nevertheless, 'Officinalis' can be seen in many medieval manuscripts, paintings, and stained glass windows, and while deep pink rather than red, it earned fame in the War of the Roses as the Red Rose of Lancaster. (The White Rose of York was Rosa